Database Design for Mere Mortals™: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design, Second Edition

Refining the Table Structures

Now that you've refined the fields and made certain that each field is sound, you can begin the process of refining the table structures. Your objective in this phase of the design process is to make sure that you've assigned the appropriate fields to each table and that you've properly defined each table's structure. This process will also reveal whether the tables have anomalies that you need to resolve.

A Word About Redundant Data and Duplicate Fields

You've seen the term redundant data used quite often in this chapter. Redundant data was characterized as being unacceptable in many cases, but appropriate in others. In order for you to better understand how to determine when redundant data is acceptable, ...