Normalization

Pearson Education 2009

Objectives
The purpose of normalization.
How normalization can be used when
designing a relational database.
The potential problems associated with
redundant data in base relations.
The concept of functional dependency, which
describes the relationship between attributes.
The characteristics of functional dependencies
used in normalization.

Pearson Education 2009

Objectives
How to identify functional dependencies for a
given relation.
How functional dependencies identify the
primary key for a relation.
How to undertake the process of
normalization.
How normalization uses functional
dependencies to group attributes into relations
that are in a known normal form.

Pearson Education 2009

Objectives

How to identify the most commonly used normal forms,

namely First Normal Form (1NF), Second Normal Form
(2NF), and Third Normal Form (3NF).
The problems associated with relations that break the
rules of 1NF, 2NF, or 3NF.
How to represent attributes shown on a form as 3NF
relations using normalization.
How to identify BoyceCodd Normal Form (BCNF).

How to represent attributes shown on a report as BCNF

relations using normalization.
Pearson Education 2009

Purpose of Normalization
Normalization

is a technique for producing a

set of suitable relations that support the data
requirements of an enterprise.

Pearson Education 2009

Purpose of Normalization
Characteristics

of a suitable set of relations

include:
the minimal number of attributes necessary
to support the data requirements of the
enterprise;
attributes with a close logical relationship
are found in the same relation;
minimal redundancy with each attribute
represented only once with the important
exception of attributes that form all or part
of foreign keys.
Pearson Education 2009

Purpose of Normalization

The benefits of using a database that has a

suitable set of relations is that the database will
be:
easier for the user to access and maintain
the data;
take up minimal storage space on the
computer.

Pearson Education 2009

How Normalization Supports

Database Design

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

Major aim of relational database design is to

group attributes into relations to minimize data
redundancy.

Pearson Education 2009

Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

Potential

benefits for implemented

database include:
Updates to the data stored in the database are
achieved with a minimal number of
operations thus reducing the opportunities for
data inconsistencies.
Reduction in the file storage space required by
the base relations thus minimizing costs.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

Problems associated with data redundancy are

illustrated by comparing the Staff and Branch
relations with the StaffBranch relation.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

AND

VS

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

StaffBranch relation has redundant data; the

details of a branch are repeated for every
member of staff.

In contrast, the branch information appears

only once for each branch in the Branch
relation and only the branch number
(branchNo) is repeated in the Staff relation, to
represent where each member of staff is
located.
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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

Relations that contain redundant information

may potentially suffer from update anomalies.

Types

of update anomalies include

Insertion
Deletion
Modification

Pearson Education 2009

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Example Insertion anomaly

Student_Course Relation
StudNo

SName

Address

CourseCode

CName

S0144

Hamizah

Alor Setar

ASDIM

Ass. Dip
Multimedia

S0149

Amjadi

Bangi

CGMP200

Computer Power
200 (Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0157

Nurazean

KL

CITP100

Computer Power
100

S0159

Aidil Akmar

KL

CGMP200

Computer Power
200 (Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0035

Syed Rizal

Ipoh

DIPCGR

Dip Computer
Graphic &
Design

(null)

(null)

(null)

DIPES

Dip E-Secretary
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Example Deletion anomaly

Student_Course Relation
StudNo

SName

Address

CourseCode

Course

S0144

Hamizah

Alor Setar

ASDIM

Ass. Dip
Multimedia

S0149

Amjadi

Bangi

CGMP200

Computer Power
200 (Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0157

Nurazean

KL

CITP100

Computer
Power 100

S0159

Aidil Akmar

KL

CGMP200

Computer Power
200 (Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0035

Syed Rizal

Ipoh

DIPCGR

Dip Computer
Graphic &
Design

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Example Modification anomaly

Student_Course Relation
StudNo

SName

Address

CourseCode

Course

S0144

Hamizah

Alor Setar

ASDIM

Ass. Dip
Multimedia

S0149

Amjadi

Bangi

CGMP200

Computer
Power 200
(Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0157

Nurazean

KL

CITP100

Computer Power
100

S0159

Aidil Akmar

KL

CGMP200

Computer
Power 200
(Graphic &
Multimedia)

S0035

Syed Rizal

Ipoh

DIPCGR

Dip Computer
Graphic &
Design

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Solution to anomalies

Solution to those anomalies is to separate the

Student_Course to two tables Student and
Course.

StudNo

SName

Address

CourseCode

S0144

Hamizah

Alor Setar

ASDIM

S0149

Amjadi

Bangi

CGMP200

CourseCode

CName

S0157

Nurazean

KL

CITP100

ASDIM

Ass. Dip Multimedia

S0159

Aidil Akmar

KL

CGMP200

CGMP200

S0035

Syed Rizal

Ipoh

DIPCGR

Computer Power 200 (Graphic &

Multimedia)

CITP100

Computer Power 100

DIPCGR

Dip Computer Graphic & Design

Student

Course

STUDENT_COURSE RELATION

STUDENT_COURSE
StudNo (PK)
SName
Address
CourseCode
CName

STUDENT_COURSE (StudNo, Sname, Address, CourseCode,Cname)

PRIMARY KEY StudNo
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STUDENT and COURSE RELATIONS

STUDENT
StudNo (PK)
SName
Address
CourseCode (FK)

COURSE
1..* register 1..1

CourseCode (PK)
CName

STUDENT(StudNo, Sname, Address, CourseCode)

PRIMARY KEY StudNo
FOREIGN KEY CourseCode references COURSE (CourseCode)
COURSE (CourseCode, Cname)
PRIMARY KEY CourseCode

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Lossless-join and Dependency

Preservation Properties
Two

important properties of decomposition.

Lossless-join property enables us to find any
instance of the original relation from
corresponding instances in the smaller
relations.
Dependency preservation property enables us
to enforce a constraint on the original
relation by enforcing some constraint on
each of the smaller relations.
Pearson Education 2009

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Functional Dependencies
Important

concept associated with normalization.

Functional

dependency describes relationship

between attributes.

For

example, if A and B are attributes of relation R,

B is functionally dependent on A (denoted A B),
if each value of A in R is associated with exactly one
value of B in R.
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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies

Property

of the meaning or semantics of the

attributes in a relation.

Diagrammatic

representation.

The

determinant of a functional dependency refers to

the attribute or group of attributes on the left-hand
side of the arrow.
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An Example Functional Dependency

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Example Functional Dependency

that holds for all Time

Consider the values shown in staffNo and Name

attributes of the Staff relation.

Based on sample data, the following functional

dependencies appear to hold.

staffNo Name
Name staffNo

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Example Functional Dependency

that holds for all Time
However,

the only functional dependency that

remains true for all possible values for the
staffNo and sName attributes of the Staff
relation is:

staffNo Name

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies

Determinants

should have the minimal

number of attributes necessary to
maintain the functional dependency with
the attribute(s) on the right hand-side.

This

requirement is called full functional

dependency.

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies

Full

functional dependency indicates that if A

and B are attributes of a relation, B is fully
functionally dependent on A, if B is functionally
dependent on A, but not on any proper subset of
A.

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Example Full Functional Dependency

Exists in the Staff relation.

staffNo, Name branchNo
True - each value of (staffNo, Name) is associated with a single
value of branchNo.
However, branchNo is also functionally dependent on a subset of
(staffNo, Name), namely staffNo. Example above is a partial
dependency.

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies

Main

characteristics of functional dependencies

used in normalization:
There is a one-to-one relationship between the
attribute(s) on the left-hand side (determinant)
and those on the right-hand side of a functional
dependency.
Holds for all time.
The determinant has the minimal number of
attributes necessary to maintain the dependency
with the attribute(s) on the right hand-side.
Pearson Education 2009

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Transitive Dependencies
Important

to recognize a transitive dependency

because its existence in a relation can
potentially cause update anomalies.

Transitive

dependency describes a condition

where A, B, and C are attributes of a relation
such that if A B and B C, then C is
transitively dependent on A via B (provided
that A is not functionally dependent on B or
C).
Pearson Education 2009

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Example Transitive Dependency

Consider

functional dependencies in the

StaffBranch relation.
staffNo Name, position, salary, branchNo,
bAddress
branchNo bAddress

dependency, branchNo bAddress

exists on staffNo via branchNo.

Transitive

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The Process of Normalization

Formal technique for analyzing a relation

based on its primary key and the functional
dependencies between the attributes of that
relation.

Often executed as a series of steps. Each step

corresponds to a specific normal form, which
has known properties.

Pearson Education 2009

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Identifying Functional Dependencies

Identifying

all functional dependencies between a

set of attributes is relatively simple if the meaning of
each attribute and the relationships between the
attributes are well understood.

This

information should be provided by the

enterprise in the form of discussions with users
and/or documentation such as the users
requirements specification.

Pearson Education 2009

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Identifying Functional Dependencies

However,

if the users are unavailable for consultation

and/or the documentation is incomplete then
depending on the database application it may be
necessary for the database designer to use their
common sense and/or experience to provide the
missing information.

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Example - Identifying a set of functional

dependencies for the StaffBranch relation
Examine

semantics of attributes in StaffBranch

relation. Assume that position held and branch
determine a member of staffs salary.

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Example - Identifying a set of functional

dependencies for the StaffBranch relation

With sufficient information available, identify the

functional dependencies for the StaffBranch relation as:
staffNo sName, position, salary, branchNo,
bAddress
branchNo bAddress
bAddress branchNo
branchNo, position salary
bAddress, position salary
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Pearson Education 2009

Example - Using sample data to

identify functional dependencies.

Consider the data for attributes denoted A, B, C, D,

and E in the Sample relation.

Important to establish that sample data values

shown in relation are representative of all possible
values that can be held by attributes A, B, C, D, and
E. Assume true despite the relatively small amount
of data shown in this relation.

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Example - Using sample data to

identify functional dependencies.

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Example - Using sample data to

identify functional dependencies.
Function

dependencies between attributes A to E in

the Sample relation.
AC
CA
B D
A, B E

(fd1)
(fd2)
(fd3)
(fd4)

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Identifying the Primary Key for a

Relation using Functional Dependencies
Main

purpose of identifying a set of functional

dependencies for a relation is to specify the set of
integrity constraints that must hold on a relation.

An

important integrity constraint to consider first is

the identification of candidate keys, one of which is
selected to be the primary key for the relation.

Pearson Education 2009

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Example - Identify Primary

Key for StaffBranch Relation

StaffBranch relation has five functional dependencies.

The determinants are staffNo, branchNo, bAddress,

(branchNo, position), and (bAddress, position).

To identify all candidate key(s), identify the attribute

(or group of attributes) that uniquely identifies each
tuple in this relation.

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Example - Identifying Primary

Key for StaffBranch Relation

All attributes that are not part of a candidate key

should be functionally dependent on the key.

The only candidate key and therefore primary key

for StaffBranch relation, is staffNo, as all other
attributes of the relation are functionally dependent
on staffNo.

Pearson Education 2009

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Example - Identifying Primary

Key for Sample Relation

Sample relation has four functional dependencies.

The determinants in the sample relation are A, B, C, and (A,
B). However, the only determinant that functionally
determines all the other attributes of the relation is (A, B).
(A, B) is identified as the primary key for this relation.

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The Process of Normalization

As normalization proceeds, the relations

become progressively more restricted (stronger)
in format and also less vulnerable to update
anomalies.

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The Process of Normalization

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Pearson Education 2009

Unnormalized Form (UNF)

A table that contains one or more repeating

groups.

To create an unnormalized table

Transform the data from the information
source (e.g. form) into table format with
columns and rows.
Refer to Figure 14.10 pg 431- ClientRental (Connolly textbook)

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First Normal Form (1NF)

A

relation in which the intersection of each row

and column contains one and only one value.

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UNF to 1NF

Nominate an attribute or group of attributes to

act as the key for the unnormalized table.

Identify the repeating group(s) in the

unnormalized table which repeats for the key
attribute(s).

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UNF to 1NF

Remove the repeating group by

Entering appropriate data into the empty
columns of rows containing the repeating
data (flattening the table).
Or by
Placing the repeating data along with a copy
of the original key attribute(s) into a
separate relation.
Refer to Figure 14.11 pg 431- ClientRental (Connolly textbook)
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Second Normal Form (2NF)

Based on the concept of full functional

dependency.

Full functional dependency indicates that if

A and B are attributes of a relation,
B is fully dependent on A if B is functionally
dependent on A but not on any proper
subset of A.

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Second Normal Form (2NF)

A relation that is in 1NF and every nonprimary-key attribute is fully functionally

dependent on the primary key.

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1NF to 2NF

Identify the primary key for the 1NF relation.

Identify the functional dependencies in the

relation.

If partial dependencies exist on the primary key

remove them by placing then in a new relation
along with a copy of their determinant.
Refer to Figure 14.14 pg 435- ClientRental (Connolly textbook)
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Third Normal Form (3NF)

Based on the concept of transitive dependency.

Transitive Dependency is a condition where

A, B and C are attributes of a relation such that
if A B and B C,
then C is transitively dependent on A through
B. (Provided that A is not functionally
dependent on B or C).

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Third Normal Form (3NF)

A

relation that is in 1NF and 2NF and in which no

non-primary-key attribute is transitively dependent
on the primary key.

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2NF to 3NF
Identify

the primary key in the 2NF relation.

Identify

functional dependencies in the relation.

If

transitive dependencies exist on the primary key

remove them by placing them in a new relation
along with a copy of their dominant.

Pearson Education 2009

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BoyceCodd Normal Form (BCNF)

Based

on functional dependencies that take into

account all candidate keys in a relation, however
BCNF also has additional constraints compared
with the general definition of 3NF.

BoyceCodd

normal form (BCNF)

A relation is in BCNF if and only if every
determinant is a candidate key.

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BoyceCodd Normal Form (BCNF)

Difference

between 3NF and BCNF is that for a

functional dependency A B, 3NF allows this
dependency in a relation if B is a primary-key
attribute and A is not a candidate key. Whereas,
BCNF insists that for this dependency to remain in
a relation, A must be a candidate key.

Every

relation in BCNF is also in 3NF. However, a

relation in 3NF is not necessarily in BCNF.

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BoyceCodd Normal Form (BCNF)

Violation

of BCNF is quite rare.

The

potential to violate BCNF may occur in a

relation that:
contains two (or more) composite candidate keys;
the candidate keys overlap, that is have at least
one attribute in common.

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Example - Normalization Process

Sentosa video centers is a chain of movie DVD rental
stores. The center need to maintain data related to dvds
rental, the movies that are recorded on the dvds, customers
and the rental. For each dvds rented out has a unique serial
number. Movie titles and customer numbers are also unique.
It is assumed that each movie movie has exactly one star.
The attributes and functional dependencies are given as the
following:

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Case Study - Normalization

Dvd number movie tittle
Dvd number star
Dvd number manufacturer date
Movie title star
Movie title length
Movie title year filmed
Customer number customer name
Customer number customer address
Dvd number, customer number,rental date return date, fee paid
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Case Study Normalization (Answer)

1NF
DVD(dvd_num, cust_num, rent_date, return_date, fee_paid,
moview_title, star, length, year_filmed, manufacture_date,
cust_name, cust_address)
2NF
RENTAL ( dvd_num, cust_num, rent_date, return_date, fee_paid)
DVD (dvd_num, movie_title, star, length, year_filmed,
manufacture_date )
CUSTOMER (cust_number, cust_name, cust_address )
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Case Study Normalization (Answer)

3NF
RENTAL ( dvd_num, cust_num, rent_date, return_date, fee_paid)
DVD (dvd_num, movie_title,manufacture_date )
CUSTOMER (cust_number, cust_name, cust_address )
MOVIE (movie_title, star, length, year_filmed)

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The End..