DATABASE SYSTEMS 6th Edition

By Thomas Connolly & Carolyn Begg

Video Link: https://youtu.be/UX6aqgfEiSw
Chapter 14 - Objectives
 What is Normalization

 Purpose of normalization.

 Characteristics of a good Relation set.

 Data Redundancy

 Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

 Insertion Anomaly

 Deletion Anomaly

 Modification Anomaly 2
Normalization
 NORMALIZATION is a database design technique that organizes tables in a
manner that reduces redundancy and dependency of data.

 A technique for producing a set of relations with desirable properties, given the
data requirements.

 Main objective in developing a logical data model for relational database systems
is to create an accurate representation of the data, its relationships, and
constraints.

 To achieve this objective, must identify a suitable set of relations.

3
Characteristics of a Suitable set of
relations
1. The minimal number of attributes necessary to support the data requirements
of the enterprise.
2. Attributes with close logical relationship (described as functional
dependency) are found in the same relation.
3. Minimal redundancy , with each attribute represented only once, with the
important exception of attributes that form all or part of foreign keys, which
are essential for the joining of related relations.
Benefits
 The benefits of using a database that has a suitable set of relations is:
 Database will be easier for the user to access
 Easier to maintain data.
 Takes minimal storage space on computer.
Normalization
 Four most commonly used normal forms are first (1NF), second (2NF) and third (3NF)
normal forms, and Boyce–Codd normal form (BCNF).

 Based on functional dependencies among the attributes of a relation.

 The inventor of the relational model Edgar Codd proposed the theory of normalization
with the introduction of the First Normal Form, and he continued to extend theory with
Second and Third Normal Form. Later he joined Raymond F. Boyce to develop the
theory of Boyce-Codd Normal Form.

 A relation can be normalized to a specific form to prevent possible occurrence of Data

redundancy and update anomalies.

6
Data Redundancy
 Major aim of relational database design is to group attributes into relations to
minimize data redundancy and reduce file storage space required by base relations.

 Problems associated with data redundancy are illustrated by comparing the

following Staff and Branch relations with the StaffBranch relation.

Staff (staffNo, sName, position, salary, branchNo)

Branch (branchNo, bAddress)
StaffBranch (staffNo, sName, position, salary, branchNo, bAddress)

7
Data Redundancy

8
Data Redundancy
 StaffBranch relation has redundant data: details of a branch are repeated for every
member of staff.

 In contrast, branch information appears only once for each branch in Branch
relation and only branchNo is repeated in Staff relation, to represent where each
member of staff works.

9
Data Redundancy

10
Update Anomalies
 Relations that contain redundant information may potentially suffer from
update anomalies.

 Types of update anomalies include:

 Insertion
 Deletion
 Modification.

11
Insertion Anomalies
 New member of staff joins branch B005
 Insert new row into StaffBranch table
 Type wrong address: 163 Main St, Glasgow.
 Database is now inconsistent!

 Establish new branch with no members of staff

 B008, 57 Princes St, Edinburgh
 No staff members, so staffNo must be NULL
 But staffNo is the primary key of the StaffBranch table, so cannot be NULL!

12
Deletion Anomaly
 Mary Howe, staffNo SA9, leaves the company
 Delete the appropriate row of StaffBranch
 This also deletes details of branch B007 where Mary Howe works
 But no-one else works at branch B007, so we no longer know the address of this branch!

13
Modification Anomaly
 Branch B003 has transferred to a new location
 New address is 145 Main St, Glasgow
 Must change three rows of the StaffBranch relation

 We can avoid these anomalies by decomposing the original relation into Staff
and Branch.
 There are two important properties associated with decomposition of larger
relation into smaller, i.e., Loss less-Join and Dependency Preservation.

14