What Is Data Normalization: A Perspective On Database Efficiency

According to Big Data Analytics News, the volume of data created worldwide as of 2023 is 120 zettabytes and is expected to reach 181 zettabytes by the end of 2025. While this data abundance promises valuable insights, it raises a question: how can organizations make sense of this information overload?

Data normalization is crucial in managing information, especially for analytics, databases, and machine learning. It ensures that information is consistent and organized, allowing for accurate analysis and decision-making. But what is data normalization? In this article, we will explore what data normalization entails, its types, advantages and common challenges associated with this process.

What is normalizing data?

Normalize data definition

Data normalization refers to the process of organizing and structuring information within a database to reduce redundancy, eliminate anomalies, and enhance overall data integrity. 

The primary goal of normalization is to create a well-structured database that stores data efficiently and consistently.

To illustrate the concept of data normalization, consider a simple example involving a database for a library. In a single table containing both book information and author details, redundancy may occur. For instance, if an author has written multiple books, their information would be duplicated for each book entry. By normalizing the data, we can create separate tables for books and authors. The author’s details are stored in a separate table linked to the book table through a unique identifier. This reduces redundancy and ensures that each author’s information is stored only once.

Why normalize the data and who needs it?

Non-normalized information presents various challenges in data management. One primary challenge is redundancy, where duplicate information is stored across multiple records, leading to inefficiency in storage and data retrieval. Non-normalized data can also result in inconsistencies, update anomalies, and difficulties in maintaining information quality over time. Analyzing non-normalized data can be complex and less accurate due to the dispersed nature of information, making it challenging to derive meaningful insights.

For example, in finance, where datasets can contain a wide range of variables like stock prices, market capitalization, and earnings, normalizing information is vital for creating meaningful financial models and conducting accurate risk assessments.

In machine learning, normalizing data can significantly enhance the performance of models. Algorithms such as support vector machines and k-nearest neighbors are sensitive to the scale of input information. This way, normalizing data means that these algorithms operate effectively and produce accurate results.

Overall, normalizing data is about applying a systematic approach to structure databases, making them more efficient, consistent, and adaptable to changes, ultimately enhancing the quality and reliability of stored information. By creating a standardized and organized structure, normalization contributes to accurate analysis, reliable reporting, and facilitates the maintenance of information integrity over time.

Advantages of data normalization

Here are some key advantages of data normalization:

• Elimination of data redundancy: Normalization helps to organize information into multiple related tables. This minimizes the chances of inconsistencies and anomalies that may arise when the same data is stored in multiple locations.
• Improved integrity: By reducing redundancy and ensuring data consistency, normalization enhances data integrity. This means that the data is accurate, reliable, and up-to-date, leading to better decision-making processes.
• Enhanced database performance: Normalized databases typically perform better in terms of query speed and overall efficiency. With data spread across multiple tables logically, database queries can be executed more quickly and with fewer resources.
• Simplified maintenance: In normalized databases, updating or deleting data is more straightforward and less error-prone. Since each piece of information is stored in only one place, maintenance tasks become more manageable.
• Facilitates scalability: Normalized databases are generally more scalable as they can accommodate growth and changes in data requirements more effectively. This flexibility is vital for businesses that need to expand their data storage and processing capabilities over time.
• Optimized storage: Reducing data redundancy results in reduced storage footprint.

Common challenges in data normalization

As we can see, data normalization offers significant advantages in terms of information quality, integrity, and performance. However, it also presents challenges that need to be carefully considered and managed. That include:

• Data integrity issues. One of the primary challenges of data normalization is maintaining information integrity. Splitting data into multiple tables can lead to issues such as insert, update, and delete anomalies, which can compromise the accuracy and reliability of the information.
• Complexity of design. Another challenge of data normalization is the complexity of the design process. Normalizing data requires a deep understanding of the data model, relationships, and business requirements, which can be time-consuming and challenging to implement correctly.
• Performance trade-offs. While normalization improves database performance in many cases, it can also lead to performance trade-offs, especially when dealing with complex queries involving multiple tables. Joining normalized tables can sometimes result in slower query execution times.
• Denormalization dilemma. In some scenarios, denormalization may be necessary to improve performance or simplify queries. However, denormalization can compromise data integrity and lead to anomalies if not carefully managed, creating a dilemma for database designers.

It’s better to carefully consider and address these common challenges to ensure a balance between integrity, performance, and manageability in databases. A good understanding of these challenges can help businesses implement effective strategies to overcome them and optimize their information management processes.

Forms of data normalization

There are six forms of data normalization, each building upon the previous one to ensure data is efficiently stored and maintained. However, the majority of databases are typically normalized after the third normal form. Remember, that normalization is a step-by-step process. To move from the first normal form to the second normal form, you need to meet the criteria of the previous normal form. Let’s explore the different forms of data normalization:

First normal form (1NF)

First Normal Form (1NF) is the fundamental step in data normalization. In 1NF, each column in a table contains atomic values, meaning that each piece of data is indivisible. This form eliminates repeating groups and ensures that each row is unique. For example, a table storing student information should have separate columns for student ID, name, and age, rather than combining them into a single column.

Second normal form (2NF)

2NF builds on 1NF by ensuring that all non-key attributes are fully functional dependent on the primary key. This means that each column in a table should relate directly to the entire primary key, not just part of it. For instance, in a table of orders, the order details should be linked to the order ID, not just the customer ID.

Third normal form (3NF)

Third normal form further refines the normalization process by removing transitive dependencies. In 3NF, every non-key column is dependent only on the primary key, not on other non-key attributes. This form helps in reducing anomalies and maintaining information consistency. For example, in a table of employees, the employee’s department should be a separate table to avoid dependencies on the employee’s name.

Boyce and Codd normal form (BCNF)

Boyce-Codd Normal Form is an advanced form of normalization that addresses anomalies not handled by 3NF. In BCNF, every determinant is a candidate key, ensuring that there are no non-trivial dependencies between candidate keys and attributes. This form is essential for complex databases with multiple candidate keys.

Fourth Normal Form (4NF) and Fifth Normal Form (5NF)

These address multi-valued dependencies and join dependencies, respectively, to further ensure data integrity and reduce redundancy. Quite rarely used in most of the practical applications.

Data denormalization

As we already mentioned, there are situations where denormalization, the opposite of normalization, becomes a valuable technique. Denormalized data refers to information that has been intentionally combined into a single table, disregarding the normalization principles. Denormalization is commonly employed in scenarios where read-heavy workloads are predominant, such as in data warehousing, reporting systems, and analytical databases. By carefully identifying the access patterns and query requirements of the system, data architects can strategically denormalize certain tables to optimize performance without compromising data consistency.

Expert Opinion

Data normalization plays a crucial role in database management, enhancing information integrity and system performance. However, in big data scenarios, the trend often shifts towards storing data in a non-normalized format to meet the demands for flexibility and quick processing of large datasets. This approach, while diverging from traditional normalization benefits, addresses the unique requirements of big data by optimizing for speed and scalability.

To accommodate these differences, a strategic division between transactional and analytical workloads is employed. Transactional systems prioritize data consistency and are optimized for routine operations, whereas analytical systems benefit from a denormalized structure, improving query speed for analysis over vast data volumes. This bifurcation leverages the advantages of normalization and denormalization, ensuring operational efficiency and insightful data analysis.

Head of Data Science an Machine Learning Department at SoftTeco

Alexander Gedranovich

Conclusion

Data normalization is a fundamental process that has wide-ranging applications across various domains. As technology continues to advance, the importance of data normalization will only grow, making it an indispensable tool for extracting valuable insights from complex datasets. However, it is essential to strike a balance between normalization and denormalization, leveraging the strengths of each approach based on the specific needs of the application. Hybrid models that combine normalized and denormalized structures can offer a flexible and efficient solution to accommodate diverse data processing requirements.