Eliminating process of normalization in relational database design

Abstract

The relational database design approach requires the process of normalization in order to minimize data redundancy and update anomalies in the relational schema. Algorithms defined in normalization theory depend upon various dependencies namely functional, multivalued, join and inclusion dependencies that should be carefully defined for a database application. Identification of these dependencies and a minimal cover is a complex and time consuming task for almost all practical problems. This work discusses how the normalization process can be eliminated from the required steps of database design. It explores various constructs of entity relationship diagram (ERD) and their transformation to relational schema. This work elaborates how un-normalized relations are created during the entity relationship (ER) model to relational schema transformation. A set of rules is presented which if followed at the stage of conceptual modeling would always generate a relational schema that satisfies normal forms up to Boyce-Codd normal form (BCNF), thus eliminating the need for normalization. The motivation behind this paper is to save the database designer's valuable time and effort otherwise required in defining dependencies, in finding a minimal cover and in normalizing a given relational schema.