Database design and normalization question

From: ./Rob & <invalid_at_invalid.net>
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 21:49:36 -0400
Message-ID: <H6GdnXoVM_ohai7dRVn-uA@speakeasy.net>

I'm designing a database to keep a list of my current projects, and various details about them.
I'm stuck on the normalization and design aspects.

Here is the layout:

[Project]

Project_ID
Project_Description
Date_Entered
Time_to_Complete_Estimation
Deadline
Start_Time
Stop_Time
Total_Time
Final_Details
Status_ID_ForeignKey

Priority_ID_ForeignKey
Owner_ID_ForeignKey
Category_ID_ForeignKey
Priority_ID_ForeignKey

[Category]

Category_ID
Category_Name
Sub_Category_ID_ForeignKey

[Sub_Category]

Sub_Category_ID
Sub_Category_Name

[Status]

Status_ID (Only 3. <Pending|Working|Closed>) Status_Name

[Priority]

Priority_ID

Here are my questions:

The "Time_to_Complete_Estimation" could be 1 day, 2 days, etc. Chances are the data will repeat. Should I make this it's own entity?

Since I may want to pull data on how much time I spent working on a particular category, should I make "Total_Time" it's own entity?

If I did make "Total_Time" it's own entity, how would I set up the table?

Since the "Status" entity will only have 1 of 3 values, could I just make the Status_ID the Status_Name, and take out the Status_Name all together?

Any suggestions in improving the design efficiency?

Thanks in advance.

-Rob Received on Tue May 25 2004 - 20:49:36 CDT