database design question

Hi,

I have a general database design question: how should I implement the bank account balance, if I were to build a bank database? Currently, it seems that I have the following three options:

1. BALANCE VIEW This means that the balance will be recalculated from the TRANSACTION table on every query.
2. BALANCE TABLE This means that every UPDATE, DELETE or INSERT operation on the TRANSACTION table will trigger an update, delete or insert operation to the corresponding BALANCE TABLE row.
3. BALANCE MATERIALIZED VIEW This means that the database engine will decide for itself when to recalculate the balance field in the BALANCE MATERIALIZED VIEW from the TRANSACTION table.

Given that both performance and data integrity are critical, what would you think is the best approach? Or how is BALANCE implemented in existing banking systems?

Thanks,
Serge Baduk (sbaduk_at_us.ibm.com) Received on Fri Oct 12 2001 - 12:07:48 CDT