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I was working on a creation of Informational System and had to create database that held large amount of data, with GUI that was responsible for edition/insertion/report building...

Database was created using MS Access 2007. I would like to post a question seeking help to possibly reduce the number of tables with better normalization, or to somehow improve the existing schema.

Is this type of question on topic for Database Administrators? If not, can you recommend some other SE site?

Browsing here, on Meta, I have found several similar questions. According to them, I believe my question would be on topic, but I must know for sure.

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'How do I improve this schema?' is likely to be too broad and subjective to make a really good question. If you have specific issues then you can certainly ask questions about those.

In general, 'I don't know where to start' is not acceptable on SE sites, as you are expected to have at least done some research on your own. In fact, this issue was so prevalent that links to lmgtfy.com were banned in answers some time ago.

Your first step should be to look up some basic topics on database design (like normalisation as you mentioned) and try to improve the schema yourself. At that point DBA.SE would certainly be an appropriate venue to ask questions.

If you do ask questions, be sure to provide some examples (E-R diagrams or create table statements) so people can understand your question in context.

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  • Thank you for your help. Indeed, I have managed to normalize the schema myself, and I believe that it was done in a decent way. That is why I thought to submit table definitions and ER diagrams here, so better and more experienced members can verify my design or offer constructive critique. Would such approach be on topic ( in your opinion )? Best regards.
    – AlwaysLearningNewStuff
    Sep 17, 2014 at 12:53
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    Questions have to be specific. 'Please critique my schema' is too broad a question, and too localised (i.e. bespoke to you and not relevant to anyone else) to be an appropriate question for the site. You would have to ask specific questions that could be given a definite answer.
    – ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells
    Sep 17, 2014 at 13:00
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"Here's my problem. Here's what I've tried. Here's why it's still a problem."

This pattern will get you a lot more useful responses than "can you suggest a better design?"

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    I would add: "This is what I am trying to achieve".
    – Thomas Kejser
    Sep 21, 2014 at 22:00
  • Yes. In fact, that's the most important aspect of "here's my problem". Maybe it goes ahead of "here's my problem."
    – Walter Mitty
    Sep 22, 2014 at 12:26

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