Tagged Questions

5
votes
3answers
83 views

How can a database be normalized when an optional field causes denormalization?

Suppose you have a warehouse full of widgets. Each widget in the warehouse is stored in a specific identifiable location within the warehouse. You might have a schema which looks like this: A ...
0
votes
2answers
44 views

Column partially determining accepted values of another column, should be somehow normalized?

I have a table that describes a set of properties (yes it's metadata, in this case there's a valid reason to have it in the database); among other things I tell the type of the data that can be ...
1
vote
1answer
82 views

Record with variable number of columns?

I am trying to model a cable mapping for devices. Each device has multiple cards, and each of those cards has multiple ports. Since both the number of cards and ports vary, I am confused on how to ...
1
vote
2answers
218 views

Refactoring/normalization - but almost empty table

I normalized a legacy DB into this structure: But I'm not sure if it is correctly normalized. I don't feel very comfortable with the almost empty filters table. The requirements A group contains ...
1
vote
0answers
52 views

Unable to decompose this relation to BCNF

I have a relation R = { A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I } And functional dependencies F ={ ABC -> DE E -> C AB -> F C -> G F -> H H -> IJ F -> B } I am able to do simple BCNF ...
7
votes
2answers
150 views

Best relational database structure for this data

I'm in the process of creating a database scheme for the following scenario: There are users Users have roles (such as "Developer" or "CEO") Roles have applications (such as "Topdesk") Applications ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views

Approach to Analyzing Database Requirements

When presented with requirements for a database driven system, I always find it useful to imagine a world with no computers, where data records were kept in filing cabinets and data was collected by ...
2
votes
3answers
260 views

Simple scenario needs to go from Unnormalized Data to 3NF - Review Please

NOTE: The Question has been updated. View Edit Revisions to view original question. The scenario. An animal charity that at the moment, track their establishment's costs via a spreadsheet like so: ...
1
vote
3answers
168 views

Best practices for history/temporal tables?

Suppose I have an object, with certain fields which I want to track history, and certain fields which I do not want to track history. From a normalization perspective, is the following schema alright: ...
2
votes
1answer
360 views

Normalisation from 1NF to 3NF

I need some guidance on normalisation from 1st Normal Form to 3rd Normal form. I have already set up my database which is working fine but needed to show some normalisation to show that I did do some ...
0
votes
1answer
87 views

Same product name with different price in different states

Consider the price of products in the table differs in each state. If the price varies in district I also have to mention it. How can I do this for more than 5 states? product Name Price ...
4
votes
3answers
542 views

How to have a one-to-many relationship with a privileged child?

I want to have a one-to-many relationship in which for each parent, one or zero of the children is marked as a “favorite.” However, not every parent will have a child. (Think of the parents as ...
1
vote
2answers
167 views

History table design for supertype/subtype

I'm designing an asset management database that tracks IT hardware. I decided to use a supertype/subtype design. I'm at a point where I want to track history of changes for devices. I wanted to use a ...
1
vote
2answers
134 views

Separate or Combine 2 Tables with Similar Attributes?

I have two kind of users in my business system: Customer and Employee. Both user have Username, Password, Fullname, Phone Number, Email, and other similar attributes. I have a difficulty to ...
2
votes
1answer
814 views

Decomposition of a relation to 2NF then to 3NF

I'm currently studying for my exams and the trouble I am having is how to decompose a relation R with given functional dependencies into 2NF then 3NF. For example for the following R and functional ...
1
vote
1answer
152 views

Does my design adhere to 3NF?

I created this schema with OpenOffice. Does this design adhere to 3NF ? (A relationship link between Equipment and Supplier_Equipment , Customer and Membership should be created but OpenOffice ...
1
vote
1answer
212 views

Are these database tables normalized?

I am developing a webapp for an institute and I designed these tables: Are these tables normalized?
2
votes
4answers
216 views

Does my table violate normalization rules?

I am developing an emulator for a game. My item table looks like this: -- ---------------------------- -- Table structure for `items` -- ---------------------------- DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `items`; ...
1
vote
3answers
168 views

Does this design satisfy 3NF, and can any improvements be made?

Does this design satisfy 3NF, and can any improvements be made? If it does not satisfy 3NF - why? By improvements, I only care if it will seriously affect scalability, efficiency, etc - I'm not ...
2
votes
2answers
512 views

Separate archive tables or soft delete for inventory database

I'm building an inventory database that tracks computer equipment and other hardware devices. At some point in any device's life it is retired and gets archived. After it becomes archived it needs to ...
1
vote
2answers
44 views

How to change type from one owner to two different types of owners

I currently have (tables changed): User UserID uniqueidentifier, CompanyID uniqueidentifier, (for future reference) .. more unrelated fields (PK: UserID) UserRating UserID uniqueidentifier, ...
1
vote
1answer
91 views

Database Design - When to use “attributes” rather than additional columns

I'm wrestling with a schema design issue. I'm attempting to determine when I should add another column instead of making it an "attribute". Rather than adding a numerous columns to a table, I ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views

Is there a tool to check if my database is normalized to the third normal form?

I learned about normalization recently, and understand how important it is when implementing a new schema. How can I check if my database is 2NF or 3NF compliant ? Manual review is a sure option, ...
4
votes
1answer
175 views

MySQL database normalization 3NF

I have homework where I need to create simple web interface and a DB normalized to 3NF. I've chosen ISP client selfcare as my database purpose. Web interface is no problem, the normalized DB is. After ...
0
votes
1answer
125 views

Mobile Phone & Tariffs

I have designed database tables of Mobile Phones & Tariffs. It should support multiple mobile networks, sale type and the related affiliate. Points (for operators) are vary depending on the ...
2
votes
1answer
501 views

Why is a Star Schema more normalized than a 3NF Schema?

According to Oracle's documentation, third normal form schemas "may require less data-transformation than more normalized schemas such as star schemas". I'm confused, I thought 3NF is the most ...
3
votes
1answer
338 views

Database Design for Questions and Answers

I'm building a website that will host a variety of questionnaires. Each questionnaire has a different number of questions and each question has a different number of answers. I have attempted to ...
3
votes
2answers
121 views

Which tables to create according to relations

We are planning a new system with a new DB (MS SQL Server). We have the following entities and the following relations: Entities: Clubs, Chains, PaymentTypes, etc... Relations: Clubs-Chains (M-M); ...
2
votes
2answers
180 views

Writing to a DKNF database, but reading from a de-normalized table for performance?

Would the following approach be reasonable? The Goal: queries have to be relatively fast, but without the hassles incurred by writing to a de-normalized database. The Context: A database for ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views

Is database normalization dead?

I've been brought up old school - where we learned to design the database schema BEFORE the application's business layer (or using OOAD for everything else). I've been pretty good with designing ...
1
vote
3answers
165 views

is id and phone number enough to uniquely identify a row in phone numbers

Was designing a table a customer_phone_numbers table a while back, which only purpose was to allow us to store as many phone numbers as a user wanted to have on file. I originally came to the ...
3
votes
2answers
406 views

Good reason to denormalize?

I have a database with about 40-50 tables. All but 5 are part of a giant hierarchy of 1:M relationships that all point back to one solitary parent (call it "Project"). Each table is joined to its ...
3
votes
3answers
112 views

Optimisation Newbie: How much of a 'sin' is redundancy?

I've been developing for a while, but never really had to deal with DB/scaling issues before. That's suddenly changed and I've found myself in the deep end. I have 2 SQL tables, as such: VOTES ...
1
vote
1answer
233 views

Normalization: Should common columns of two tables be pulled out into a third table?

Should I further normalize my current design to eliminate redundancies? I have the following tables: empl: standard user table empl_cat: employee "category" empl_admin_cat: administrative ...
4
votes
1answer
813 views

2NF decomposition + database normalization

If anyone knows about 2NF I'd greatly appreciate if you could tell me if my understanding of it correct my book does not even mention it (except to say is of "historical significance") and I haven't ...
6
votes
2answers
970 views

Is one-to-one relationship normalized?

Consider we have a large set of statistical data for a record; e.g. 20-30 INT columns. Is it better to keep the entire set in one table as they all belong to a record OR creating a another table ...
7
votes
1answer
748 views

Generating Invoices and Tracking

Every 2 weeks, the system will generate the invoices for the companies. Company will receive an invoice on the 1st and 16th every month. (It will run via Cron Job every 2 week. It scan through the ...
1
vote
1answer
146 views

Tick boxes and Dropdown

Have a look at the image below: This is "Plain Buger" item - customer can select sauces and extras with it. There are different sizes for Plain Burger. I need to translate this UI into database ...
1
vote
2answers
481 views

Database normalization: Describing trait - foreign key to table, or varchar field with value?

My colleagues and I are having a discussion about the normalization of descriptive traits in the database, such as "status" or "type". Let's call the central table of the discussion "Order". In my ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views

design of maintenance database

Lets say i am designing a database that tracks maintenance of equipment. Each piece of equipment has various fields that usually don't change eg. ID, model, serial number etc. Some fields change ...
1
vote
2answers
361 views

database normalization 2nf, 3nf

I am doing homework about database normalization. I have to decompose the table into 3nf form showing the steps here is the initial table: ...
1
vote
1answer
250 views

Multiple values in lookup fields

I know newer versions of MS Access allow multiple selections in lookup fields. For example, if I'm collecting information on my students, I can have a field called Race with lookup values that ...
0
votes
1answer
83 views

What model design supports both data store backed and free form entries?

I have an application where users are tracking a workflow around producing a derivative work from an existing Book. The derivative work, we'll call "BookDerivative" must have a book that it relates to ...
4
votes
2answers
347 views

Constraint many to many table between two child tables

New to this exchange site so I hope my question isn't inappropriate. Creating a somewhat normalized database I had one design problem I'm not sure how to handle efficiently. One table has a ...
2
votes
2answers
307 views

What are the pros and cons of using my customer codes as a primary key?

I am designing a database for one of my sales teams. Right now, the goal is to get a master list of customers and their mailing addresses, but the DB will eventually expand to track some other ...
4
votes
3answers
321 views

Database Design Issues

My question consists of three parts: When can I be sure that my database design is perfect? Is returning to the database design to change some issues (i.e, adding new column, deleting a column, ...
4
votes
2answers
535 views

Using IDs from multiple tables in a single column

One of my co-workers created a schema similar to the following. This is a simplified schema including only the parts necessary to address this question. The system rules are as follows: ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views

When to apply normalization in database design

Hello database administrators. Recently, I have been reading about normalization in order to improve my database design skills. However, I am a bit confused about when to apply this technique. Prior ...
13
votes
3answers
605 views

Duplicate column for faster queries?

The title doesn't make to much sense but i couldn't think a better title for this problem. I have the following tabels Projects id name Customers id id_project name Payments id id_customer ...