good afternoon,I am currently in the process of building a database that can expand over time (i think that is an oxymoron, but anyways) From what I have been reading ( I have a 1999 antique book called the complete reference SQL and from viewing websites on this subject) a good database does not have duplicate values just duplicate keys. So if I would build this database I should have a master table of fields composed of the primary_key values and these should correspond with smaller tables that have these values as primary keys. here is a diagram that I made. If I am not on the right track are their any work-flow documents for creating a good database structure?

Well, you sort of have the right idea with primary keys and foreign keys. But really what you need is to get a good handle on design. I'm not familiar with that book, but if you can get your hands on 'Database Design For Mere Mortals' by Michael Hernandez, it covers everything you will need to know about RDB design. Check out the MySQL web site as well (mysql.com). Another good book is 'MySQL' by Paul DuBois.

If you give us an idea of what your database will be managing, we could help more too. But try to get as far as you can on your own.