Continuing from Part 1: What if there is an alternative to a normalized RDBMS storage approach, that better fits the process flow?

The routing slip data model

Instead of looking at the physical entities (Suppliers, Ingredients, Cakes, Mixes, Slices etc.), look at the process steps and treat the process steps as our physical entities that store participating data.

The main difference to normalization is to treat data as process local. 1kg flour in the mixing state is a different datapoint from 1kg four in storage silo 3. Routing slips provide the transition. Key difference: Routing slips are accumulative. So the routing slip in the package process contains all the routing slip data of previous process steps. From a database perspective that is a deliberate data duplication, raising blood pressure for data architects.