hierarchical database and normalization

In the absence of finding a FAQ for this group, I've got a couple questions to ask.

Some background:

I'm attempting to do a db of an extremely hierarchical cataloging system, and so far am not liking the results. There's 6-7 levels (still debating breaking the highest level out into separate db's) and the bottom level table has a primary key that is composed of the primary keys of all of the higher level tables plus a col. of data unique to the bottom table.

From a performance standpoint, this is going to suck. I'm debating about abandoning this concatonated-primary-key-approach, and simply creating sequential number ID's for each table. Of course, each table's ID would still be a foriegn key in the lower-level tables for look-up purposes, but this gets me around many of the potential performance issues.

However, this looks like way too much of a kludge, and in trying to determine a "better way", I started to question the normalization of the data that I did in the first place. So, with that said...

Does anyone know of any 'net resources specifically dealing with hierarchical databases, and how to normalize them?

Are there any guidelines for assessing the normalization of data *after* it's all be tabled? I'd rather not have to start complete over if it can be avoided.

Does anyone have any examples of a hierarchical database that they can share some scheme info on?

All input is appreciated.

--
Mark
Burning our skins to be renewed, but never hiding the charred look as
we forever age ourselves without reason.
 -- Hardrock Llewynyth  in a.g.


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