Describe how a database designer typically identifies the set of functional dependencies associated with a relation.

What will be an ideal response?

Identifying all functional dependencies between a set of attributes should be relatively simple
if the meaning of each attribute and the relationships between the attributes are well
understood. This type of information may be provided by the enterprise in the form of
discussions with users and/or appropriate documentation such as the users’ requirements
specification. However, if the users are unavailable for consultation and/or the documentation
is incomplete then depending on the database application it may be necessary for the database
designer to use their common sense and/or experience to provide the missing information.
As a contrast to this, consider the situation where functional dependencies are to be identified
in the absence of appropriate information about the meaning of attributes and their
relationships. In this case, it may be possible to identify functional dependencies if sample
data is available that is a true representation of all possible data values that the database may
hold.