Eliot's answer is basically correct but you could use the OUTPUT statement instead of a trigger.
Something like:
CREATE TABLE #StatusChanges (Status1 VARCHAR(20), Status2 VARCHAR(20));
UPDATE YourTable
SET Status = 'Approved'
OUTPUT DELETED.Status, INSERTED.Status
INTO #StatusChanges
WHERE ;-- whatever your WHERE criteria should be to avoid updates to all rows
SELECT *
FROM #StatusChanges
WHERE Status1 = 'Active' AND Status2='Approved'; -- Or whatever status changes you're looking for
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?
My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.
Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
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