Boyce Codd normal form

Boyce Codd normal form (BCNF)

• BCNF is the advance version of 3NF. It is stricter than 3NF.
• A table is in BCNF if every functional dependency X → Y, X is the super key of the table.
• For BCNF, the table should be in 3NF, and for every FD, LHS is super key.

Example: Let's assume there is a company where employees work in more than one department.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID	EMP_COUNTRY	EMP_DEPT	DEPT_TYPE	EMP_DEPT_NO
264	India	Designing	D394	283
264	India	Testing	D394	300
364	UK	Stores	D283	232
364	UK	Developing	D283	549

In the above table Functional dependencies are as follows:

1. EMP_ID  →  EMP_COUNTRY  
2. EMP_DEPT  →   {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}  

Candidate key: {EMP-ID, EMP-DEPT}

The table is not in BCNF because neither EMP_DEPT nor EMP_ID alone are keys.

To convert the given table into BCNF, we decompose it into three tables:

EMP_COUNTRY table:

EMP_ID	EMP_COUNTRY
264	India
264	India

EMP_DEPT table:

EMP_DEPT	DEPT_TYPE	EMP_DEPT_NO
Designing	D394	283
Testing	D394	300
Stores	D283	232
Developing	D283	549

EMP_DEPT_MAPPING table:

EMP_ID	EMP_DEPT
D394	283
D394	300
D283	232
D283	549

Functional dependencies:

1. EMP_ID   →    EMP_COUNTRY  
2. EMP_DEPT   →   {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}  

Candidate keys:

For the first table: EMP_ID
For the second table: EMP_DEPT
For the third table: {EMP_ID, EMP_DEPT}

Now, this is in BCNF because left side part of both the functional dependencies is a key.