If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
db normalization
Is there ever a justification for NOT normalizing a db?
A consultant and I are in a debate right now. We have an Access db which essentially acts as a data repository, from which data are reported upon once a month in Excel. My take: the db should be normalized. His take: the db doesn't need to be normalized because it is not being queried daily. Thoughts? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
db normalization
Read this to help you decide.
http://www.formeremortals.com/Downlo...malization.pdf Access' Analyze table will do what the article steps you through. That it is not being queried daily, to me, is not a good argument against nornalizing. Dave F wrote: Is there ever a justification for NOT normalizing a db? A consultant and I are in a debate right now. We have an Access db which essentially acts as a data repository, from which data are reported upon once a month in Excel. My take: the db should be normalized. His take: the db doesn't need to be normalized because it is not being queried daily. Thoughts? -- Message posted via AccessMonster.com http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...esign/200608/1 |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
db normalization
I tend to agree with you.
"jahoobob via AccessMonster.com" wrote: Read this to help you decide. http://www.formeremortals.com/Downlo...malization.pdf Access' Analyze table will do what the article steps you through. That it is not being queried daily, to me, is not a good argument against nornalizing. Dave F wrote: Is there ever a justification for NOT normalizing a db? A consultant and I are in a debate right now. We have an Access db which essentially acts as a data repository, from which data are reported upon once a month in Excel. My take: the db should be normalized. His take: the db doesn't need to be normalized because it is not being queried daily. Thoughts? -- Message posted via AccessMonster.com http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...esign/200608/1 |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
db normalization
=?Utf-8?B?RGF2ZSBG?= wrote in
: My take: the db should be normalized. His take: the db doesn't need to be normalized because it is not being queried daily. It depends on how much you care about internal inconsistencies and data integrity. R theory is about having data "correct" -- in other words, there are no situations where ACME's hometown could be Cincinatti in one record and London in another. It's possible that the repository is only being fed high-quality cleaned data and that data integrity problems have been dealt with in another way. In that case, your consultant would argue that the extra storage space and disk accesses required by an R database would not be efficient. On the other hand, you view might be that data are inherently unstable and that only a rigorously designed, mathematically-verifiable, fully normal design can keep them from degenerating into a pile of dog-doos. And you are prepared to pay for the comfort of that knowledge. It's got bugger-all to do with daily querying, though! Hope that helps Tim F |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
db normalization
I would have to agree with both of you, but I do want to share this:
The only time that I have witnessed a DB that was not completely normalized was when there were over 150-200 tables/views in a database and they were trying to maximize the application's efficiency. The field lookup would have required a series of complex joins on several tables. Due to record locking etc, the speed of the application itself would have been affected if the data (member demographics for example) was not contained in more than one place. jmonty "Dave F" wrote: I tend to agree with you. "jahoobob via AccessMonster.com" wrote: Read this to help you decide. http://www.formeremortals.com/Downlo...malization.pdf Access' Analyze table will do what the article steps you through. That it is not being queried daily, to me, is not a good argument against nornalizing. Dave F wrote: Is there ever a justification for NOT normalizing a db? A consultant and I are in a debate right now. We have an Access db which essentially acts as a data repository, from which data are reported upon once a month in Excel. My take: the db should be normalized. His take: the db doesn't need to be normalized because it is not being queried daily. Thoughts? -- Message posted via AccessMonster.com http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...esign/200608/1 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|