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In what business database environments is de-normalization appropriate and why? What would de-normalization specifically involve?

I believe that in small businesses that do not require a system database with all of the bells and whistles or complex queries, de-normalization is more than appropriate. For example, I had worked for an organization that tracked Wetlands sites for maintenance projects. I was tasked with providing a simple system that would track contracts and maintenance cycles. I developed a very simple system to accomplish this task by having two tables with all of the data in the respective tables. The Wetlands Specialist could determine which sites needed to be maintained in a given year and which ones could be delayed or placed on a list of future mitigation projects. One table had most of the project information and the other was merely a look up table. Since normalization involves the reducing of excess data from tables and the creation of linking supplemental data tables together, I've always found that de-normalization is the process of putting as much information in one table that one could look at it and pull out the information they need quickly. However, that is what worked for this particular system but may not work in other cases.

Normalization is important but always remember that it is not the end all be all for database systems.