Simplest suggestion I can make here is to let the relational system work like a relational system. Use the tools provided because they are a part of how SQL Server has been written and optimized. 5, 8, or even 20 table JOINs are no big deal if the queries are written correctly, constraints are in place and enforced, you have indexes, and all the statistics are up to date. I've seen 86 table JOINs work just fine (well, apart from the 3 minute compile time). Don't sweat that stuff. Focus on core principals.