How to store external IDs from different sources?
I have a table of customers with a PK that we can use as an identifier for our internal system. These customers may belong to different companies, each of which may have an external ID in some arbitrary structure to identify the customer. Furthermore, customers and companies have a many to many relationship.
My dilemma is whether I should store the external ID in the linking table itself or via some external table (because the external IDs may be of arbitrary form). We need to be able to find customers for a particular company via internal or external ID.
schema rdbms
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 6 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
add a comment |
I have a table of customers with a PK that we can use as an identifier for our internal system. These customers may belong to different companies, each of which may have an external ID in some arbitrary structure to identify the customer. Furthermore, customers and companies have a many to many relationship.
My dilemma is whether I should store the external ID in the linking table itself or via some external table (because the external IDs may be of arbitrary form). We need to be able to find customers for a particular company via internal or external ID.
schema rdbms
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 6 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
add a comment |
I have a table of customers with a PK that we can use as an identifier for our internal system. These customers may belong to different companies, each of which may have an external ID in some arbitrary structure to identify the customer. Furthermore, customers and companies have a many to many relationship.
My dilemma is whether I should store the external ID in the linking table itself or via some external table (because the external IDs may be of arbitrary form). We need to be able to find customers for a particular company via internal or external ID.
schema rdbms
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
I have a table of customers with a PK that we can use as an identifier for our internal system. These customers may belong to different companies, each of which may have an external ID in some arbitrary structure to identify the customer. Furthermore, customers and companies have a many to many relationship.
My dilemma is whether I should store the external ID in the linking table itself or via some external table (because the external IDs may be of arbitrary form). We need to be able to find customers for a particular company via internal or external ID.
schema rdbms
schema rdbms
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
asked Nov 12 '14 at 15:39
RobRob
1012
1012
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 6 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 6 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The fact that the ExternalID is in an arbitrary format should not impact the design of the schema. As it's a many to many relationship, you can use the following:
Customer
- ID
- Name
- etc...
CustomerCompany
- CustomerID (PK, FK to Customer)
- ExternalID
- CompanyID (PK, FK to Company)
Company
- ID
- Name
- etc...
Depending on the business logic, it may also make sense to include ExternalID in the primary key for the CustomerCompany table.
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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The fact that the ExternalID is in an arbitrary format should not impact the design of the schema. As it's a many to many relationship, you can use the following:
Customer
- ID
- Name
- etc...
CustomerCompany
- CustomerID (PK, FK to Customer)
- ExternalID
- CompanyID (PK, FK to Company)
Company
- ID
- Name
- etc...
Depending on the business logic, it may also make sense to include ExternalID in the primary key for the CustomerCompany table.
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
add a comment |
The fact that the ExternalID is in an arbitrary format should not impact the design of the schema. As it's a many to many relationship, you can use the following:
Customer
- ID
- Name
- etc...
CustomerCompany
- CustomerID (PK, FK to Customer)
- ExternalID
- CompanyID (PK, FK to Company)
Company
- ID
- Name
- etc...
Depending on the business logic, it may also make sense to include ExternalID in the primary key for the CustomerCompany table.
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
add a comment |
The fact that the ExternalID is in an arbitrary format should not impact the design of the schema. As it's a many to many relationship, you can use the following:
Customer
- ID
- Name
- etc...
CustomerCompany
- CustomerID (PK, FK to Customer)
- ExternalID
- CompanyID (PK, FK to Company)
Company
- ID
- Name
- etc...
Depending on the business logic, it may also make sense to include ExternalID in the primary key for the CustomerCompany table.
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
The fact that the ExternalID is in an arbitrary format should not impact the design of the schema. As it's a many to many relationship, you can use the following:
Customer
- ID
- Name
- etc...
CustomerCompany
- CustomerID (PK, FK to Customer)
- ExternalID
- CompanyID (PK, FK to Company)
Company
- ID
- Name
- etc...
Depending on the business logic, it may also make sense to include ExternalID in the primary key for the CustomerCompany table.
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
answered Nov 12 '14 at 15:51
LowlyDBALowlyDBA
6,98252542
6,98252542
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
add a comment |
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
The types of external IDs may be different from company to company, though (i.e. string, int, whatever) – I guess I can just use varchar to be generic. Furthermore, this case hasn't come up yet, but what if some company uses a composite key to identify their customers. I suppose I could serialize it, but maybe it belongs in a separate table. However, then I'm at risk of needing a table of external IDs for every company.
– Rob
Nov 12 '14 at 15:55
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
@Rob It sounds like varchar may be the way to go if there really are no constraints to the ID contents. You don't want to be stuck adding new tables for every time a new company is added, that could get messy over time.
– LowlyDBA
Nov 12 '14 at 16:07
add a comment |
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