Table relationship

[robert]

Which relationships is the best one to use? Would they
both work?
Each employee could be assigned many assets. Each asset
will have a history of transactions.

tblEmployee
EmployeeID
..... employee details
tblAssigned (linking table)
EmployeeID
AssetID
AssignedDate
RelinquishedFrom
RelinquishedDate
tblAsset
AssetID
..... asset details

or

tblEmployee
EmployeeID
..... employee details
tblAsset (child for tblEmployee & parent for tblAssigned)
AssetID
EmployeeID
..... asset details
tblAssigned
AssignedID
AssetID
AssignedDate
RelinquishedFrom
RelinquishedDate
Sure could use any help on this. I have read and read
and 1st things 1st. Have to get the relationships right.
Thanks for your imput.

 

[Bruce]

Either could be right, but they are not interchangeable.
It depends on the situation.
Each employee assigned many assets = one-to-many
Each asset with many transactions = one-to-many
The second choice is the way to go if each asset is
assigned to a single employee. If each asset can be
associated with many employees, and if each employee can
be assigned many assets, there is a many-to-many
relationship between assets and employees, and the first
choice would address your needs.

 

[robert]

Bruce,
Thank you very much. I guess it's not a many/many
relationship after all. I'm making it much harder than it
needs to be.