Recording information about an item

A computer program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for obtaining an earlier version of an item, the method comprising:

• identifying the item stored in a repository for which an earlier version is to be obtained, the item being included in a set of items, the item supporting versioning and being subject to a data model having no selection of predefined schemas for items, such that an appropriate schema can be derived for the item at a given point in time;
• obtaining, from the repository and using a version number associated with the earlier version of the item, attributes having an association with the item, wherein:
• the attributes include type identifiers that define a status of an instance of the item, the status including at least one of mandatory, expected, and optional, and
• a time period when the association of the attributes and the version number associated with the earlier version of the item is valid is not recorded in the repository;
• receiving information including which attributes were valid for the version number of the item during the time period;
• generating the earlier version of the item based on the information about the attributes;
• and
• deriving a schema based on information included in items of the set of items, the information comprising the attributes.

A computer program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for recording versioning information about an item, the method comprising:

• receiving from a first repository a unique identifier and a version number of a particular item, and further receiving identifiers for additional items associated with the version number of the particular item, wherein a time period when the association of the additional items and the version number of the particular item is valid is not recorded in the first repository, the particular item being included in a set of items, the particular item supporting versioning and being subject to a data model having no selection of predefined schemas for items, such that an appropriate schema can be derived for the item at a given point in time;
• assigning a cycle number to the item in response to the receiving, the cycle number based on an earlier cycle number associated with an earlier version of the item;
• storing the cycle number and associations of the identifiers for the additional items and the version number of the particular item in a second repository at a particular time;
• and
• deriving a schema based on information included in items of the set of items, the information comprising one or more attributes of the particular item.

A computer program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for identifying earlier versions of associated items, the method comprising:

• identifying a particular item having a particular version number, wherein a previous version of the particular item and at least one additional item associated with the particular item is to be obtained, the particular item being included in a set of items, the particular item supporting versioning and being subject to a data model having no selection of predefined schemas for items, such that an appropriate schema can be derived for the item at a given point in time;
• obtaining from a first repository the particular item and the additional item, wherein a time period when the association of the particular item and the additional item is valid is not recorded in the first repository;
• obtaining from a second repository a version number that indicates that the additional item is valid for the particular version number of the particular item during the time period, the second repository storing version numbers for a plurality of items organized by cycle numbers;
• and
• deriving a schema based on information included in items of the set of items, the information comprising one or more attributes of the particular item.