Integrating separate results
We analyzed two different reports in the two previous sections of this chapter. Both reports provide information on the same project organization and show data coming from the same database. The results of the independently analyzed reports need to be integrated into a single database schema.
During integration, we merge the result of normalizing the information requirements. We need to pay attention to the following:
- Tables that describe the same entity
- Homonyms and synonyms
- Process data
Tables that are the same
An entity (a table) is defined by its key. So, we first look for tables with the same key. We can merge these tables.
Both in Figure 3.7 and in Figure 3.15, we see a table called Project. The fact that we chose the same name is irrelevant, just a coincidence. The fact that both tables have the same key, ProjectNumber, means that they are actually the same table. You merge them by creating a table that contains all...