The generic function update-records-from-instance updates the records in database represented by instance. If the instance is already associated with a database, that database is used, and database is ignored. If instance is not yet associated with a database, a record is created for instance in the appropriate table of database and the instance becomes associated with that database.
update-records-from-instance only updates the records from the base slots of instance - it does not look at the join slots.
LispWorks User Guide and Reference Manual - 13 Feb 2015