[thelist] Database design question

Joshua Olson joshua at waetech.com
Tue Jul 22 13:55:12 CDT 2003


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "fstorr" <fffrancis at fstorr.demon.co.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 2:44 PM


> I'm still fairly new to database design.  I'm putting a simple one
> together for a business "dictionary of terms" and just need
> clarification on whether my design is going to be efficient enough.  I'm
> thinking I need three tables:
>
> 1: The main term searched for, and a full version of the term if it's an
> ancronym

If the acronym can vary by department or context, you may need to decide if
you need the full version in the table with the definitions.

> 2: A foreign key referencing table 1, a definition of the term, any
> saliant links, the department that uses the term (referencing table 3)

In this case, what are saliant links?  The way you worded "any saliant
links" leads me to believe you may even want a 4th table.

> 3: A list of the various business departments to be used as a foreign
> key for table 2.
>
> The reason I've split the main term from it's definition is that some
> acronyms can obviously stand for many things (ICS can, in my case, stand
> for Institute Of Customer Service, or Internal Customer Service).

Does the definition depend on departmental context?

> Does this seem the right way to do it?  A colleague at work has said
> that it would be better to combine table's 1 and 2, but I'm not
> convinced...

I don't think that your colleague is correct.  If you were to follow their
advice, your PK in table one would become a compound key of term and
business department (FK).

<><><><><><><><><><>
Joshua Olson
Web Application Engineer
WAE Tech Inc.
http://www.waetech.com
706.210.0168



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