[AccessD] Normalisation

Stuart McLachlan stuart at lexacorp.com.pg
Mon Mar 17 06:58:01 CST 2003


> Hey all
> 
> I have a bit of a funny database spec for a call centre application (callers
> ringing to register insurance claims).
> 
> The details taken from the customer cover a lot of different entities; the
> caller, their insurance policy, their car, the accident, the third party,
> the third party's car, the third party's insurance policy etc. My instinct
> is to create a table for each distinct entity. However, they will all have
> 1:1 relationships as there is only one instance of each entity per claim
> (the caller I would hold separate as we may handle more than one claim for
> them). 

>This is a fairly 'disposable' (i.e. expected to be used only in the
> short term and never to be expanded) app. 

Now where have I heard that before? <vbg>

Would it be shockingly bad
> behaviour just to stuff everything into one table??

You need to ask questions like:

How do you identify the third party - will you be able to/do you need to identify multiple 
claims concerning the same third party?

Ditto for the 3rd party policy and vehicle.

Without knowing what reporting/ data analysis you are looking at, it's impossible to tell 
how far you need to break it down/constrain data entry on the various entities.






-- 
Lexacorp Ltd
http://www.lexacorp.com.pg
Information Technology Consultancy, Software Development,System Support.






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