Home Forums Database Design Relational Theory Is having a lookup table that is for multiple entities a common practice? RE: Is having a lookup table that is for multiple entities a common practice?

  • February 9, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    #1927627

    Andrew P - Wednesday, February 8, 2017 11:59 PM

    This is a controversial subject - the term for the structure is "One-True-Lookup-Table" (OTLT). It's a valid model, but I'm confident it's not the enterprise-grade best-practice it might look like.

    I'd be inclined to describe it as an enterprise-grade worst practice, it's throwing away improved relational integrity provided by the relational model by introducing a table which does not conform to that model.

    Tom