What is the role of normalization in the Clarity data model, and which forms are commonly used?

• A. Normalization reduces redundancy and update anomalies; common forms are 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF, with core transactional data often in 3NF.
• B. Normalization increases redundancy to speed up queries.
• C. Only 4NF and higher are relevant in Clarity.
• D. Normalization is optional and not used in transactional tables.

Answer: (A)

Normalization organizes data so that each fact is stored only once and each piece of information depends on the right underlying key. In the Clarity data model, this reduces duplication and prevents update, insert, and delete anomalies that come from having repeated data scattered across tables. The common path is to build up to the third normal form:

• 1NF gives you a clean, tabular structure with atomic values.

• 2NF adds that every non-key attribute must depend on the whole primary key, not just part of it.

• 3NF removes transitive dependencies so non-key attributes depend only on the primary key, not on other non-key attributes.

This setup provides solid data integrity and straightforward maintenance for core transactional data. Higher normal forms like 4NF are more specialized and less typical for standard transactional schemas, and normalization is generally not optional for transactional tables in Clarity.