Analysis of Technical Debt in Relational Database Management Systems: A Case Study

Date

2026-6

Author

Yılmaz, Yaren

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This study investigates technical debt in Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS), a critical but often underexplored area compared to general software code and architecture debt. The research aims to identify what causes logical database technical debt and evaluates practical methodologies for its detection across various design stages. A multiple case study was conducted on two open-source PostgreSQL databases of similar sizes: one from the e-commerce domain and another from healthcare. Two primary identification methods were utilized: an integrity constraint problem detection method executing 69 specific SQL queries, and a normalization debt identification framework focusing on tables below the Fourth Normal Form (4NF). Findings reveal that the e-commerce database exhibited more missing constraints and a higher percentage of tables below 4NF, indicating greater susceptibility to long-term technical debt. The study concludes that the integrity constraint detection method serves as a valuable, versatile double-check to catch accidental issues at any design stage. Furthermore, while enforcing highly normalized schemas (4NF) prevents structural debt, it can negatively impact query performance, requiring designers to carefully balance normalization levels to optimize system efficiency.

Subject Keywords

Database technical debt, Relational Database Management Systems, Database Normalization, Database design

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119734

Collections

Graduate School of Informatics, Term Project