Normalization

It might have come as a surprise that nowhere in this discussion of data modeling have I discussed normalizing the data model. It's been my experience that if you start with the data bits and then organize them into entities, reconciling repeating groups and many-to-many relationships as you go, you're likely to have a data model that is in third-normal form.

But it certainly does no harm, particularly when all of this is fairly new to you, to review the model for compliancy. Remember, every entity in the model should be dependent on "the key, the whole key, and nothing but the key."