I have a database with a master-detail-subdetail relationship. If a user changes the details or subdetails via a query tool, I want to set a flag that indicates that a summary table is out of date. But when my program updates the database, it will insert, delete or update several thousand details and subdetails.

It seems like a table trigger would serve well in the first instance, but it would be inefficient in the second. It would be great if I could set a database trigger that on commit could determine that there had been a change to the detail or subdetail table and set the flag.

I have been doing this with a trigger on the table but I have not really checked to see if it is slowing the inserts from my program. Maybe this is a non-issue.

Assuming that it is not a non-issue, is there a way to configure a database trigger to do this update?

Thanks for your help.