[thelist] Database design question

fstorr fffrancis at fstorr.demon.co.uk
Tue Jul 22 15:06:24 CDT 2003


 > 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.

+++++

Yep, I couldn't make my mind up where that should so.  I was vearing
towards your suggestion anyway, so I'll go with that.

+++++

> > 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.

+++++

For example, our Customer Service department produces a weekly
newsletter called CSID, so I'd link to that.  Likewise, I'd link to
w3.org for HTML or our medical department for one of their bizarre
terms!

+++++

> > 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?

+++++

It's likely that more than one department could "own" a term.  We use a
lot of medical abbrievations that are used both our Medical department
as well as Customer Service.  Likewise, the aforementioned ICS: the
Institute Of Customer Service is an external body, whereas Internal
Customer Service is a department within Customer Service

+++++

> 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).

+++++

That's exactly what I thought.  Huzzah, I'm right!

+++++

Regards

F




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