Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Databases

What Does It Mean to Normalize a Database?

Database normalization can best be characterized as the process of organizing a database. With the question of what out of the way, let’s turn to the question of why. The goal of normalization is to reduce problems with data consistency by reducing redundancy. Sound confusing? The concept of normalization is probably easier understood by way of a simple example. To illustrate, let’s again turn to the Northwind Traders Database that ships with Access.

Figure 4.1 shows the ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram) for the Northwind Traders Database that was introduced in Chapter 2, “The Anatomy of a Real Database.” Notice the relationship between the Customers and Orders tables. As a quick review of how relationships ...