Systems and methods for retroactively performing dimension widening on a data element are provided. A described method includes receiving a set of data elements from a database and a set of dimension widening rules. The method further includes identifying one or more of the data elements to which any of the dimension widening rules are applicable. The method further includes processing the identified data elements by applying the applicable dimension widening rules to the identified data elements. A dimension widening delta is generated for each data element, and the dimension widening deltas may be stored. The method further includes merging one or more of the data elements with one or more of the dimension widening deltas in response to a query.