Maximum number of tables

[Guest]

Greetings all. I am trying to normalize the giant Access single table
spreadsheet I have created. What is the maximum number of tables possible.
I currently have 120 fields in one table. If I am understanding what I have
read since my last post I will need around 30 tables to truly normalize my
data. Is this too many tables? Also, are there any instances where one
large table would be preferable?

Thank you
Greg Snidow

 

[Douglas J Steele]

It's virtually impossible to say whether 30 is too many tables without
knowing what you're trying to model. It's entirely possible that 30 isn't
enough!

Certainly 30 tables is nothing for Access.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Greg

I agree with Doug -- 30 is ... compared to what?!

If you'll describe a bit more about the 'domain' (subject area) you are
modeling, you'll get a lot more specific suggestions from the 'group.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
<Access MVP>

 

[Guest]

O.K. I will try to outline my needs a bit further. My job is to track
information for jobs at a large telcom company. The only unique attribute of
every job is its job ID. For every job I need to track the reigion, the
central office, the location, the footages of 15 different types of fiber
cable, the numbers and types of terminals, etc. It just keeps growing and
growing. If a job has 144 fiber cable, for example, I need to input the
footage required, the footage ordered, the ship date, the receive date, the
order#, and the reel#. I tried to begin by making seperate tables for every
fiber type. My confusion is whether or not I need to make the job ID a field
in every table, since that is the only unique thing. If not, then how does
my 144 fiber table, for examle, know that I need 15000 of cable feet for job
ABC.

 

[Douglas J Steele]

Having a separate table for each type of cable is most likely wrong.

You should be able to store the cable information in a single table, with an
identifier as to which cable type it is.