Our application currently stores data in a single CSV file; a file like this is often called a flat file, because the data has been flattened to two dimensions. While this format works acceptably for our application and could be translated directly to an SQL table, a more accurate and useful data model requires more complexity.
Modeling relational data
Normalization
The process of breaking out a flat data file into multiple tables is called normalization. Normalization is a process involving a series of levels called normal forms which progressively remove duplication and create a more precise model of the data we're storing. Although there are many normal forms, most issues encountered in common business data can be handled...
