Help me understand normalization and what it looks like

[njnewuser]

I started a database and it didn't work (i.e. queries), and I didn't know if it was because of my table structure, because of the way things got imported from Excel, or something else. I went back to the basics and started looking at some of the tutorials suggested here (the Rogers library, etc) and started getting caught up on design and normalization.

My question is, I understand that each table will have unique fields that are not repeated elsewhere or duplicated (i.e., the same people represented by LName in both tblEmployees and tblClassScheduleEmployees).



If the original spreadsheet from Excel had 1196 rows (and growing) - when I import that into Access - and parse everything out and remove duplicates - is it correct that the separate tables will have different quantities of fields/rows? In other words, I will have 1196 people in tblEmployees, from 500 (for example) separate employers in one table (employers send employees to classes), 300 or so towns, 21 counties, (both stored in tblEmployerLocation, because that is tracked), and classes and class dates in another table.

Or should I have each unique class in its own table with the dates (one-time events run on multiple sessions over the course of a year) that it ran?

[June7]

I say no separate table for each class, all in one table.

[njnewuser]

Thanks - the thought just popped in my head today about having separate tables for each class - am I correct in my other assumptions?

Thanks for your help in the other thread also....