Design a Simple ERP System Data Model

To design a basic ERP data model, I would start by identifying the five core entities required for transactional integrity: Customers, Products, Suppliers, Orders, and OrderItems. First, I'd create a 'Customers' table with a primary key 'customer_id' to store contact details. Next, a 'Products' table would hold SKU, description, and unit price, linked to a 'Suppliers' table via a foreign key to manage sourcing. The central entity is 'Orders', which contains order metadata like date and status, linking back to 'Customers' through a 'customer_id' foreign key. Crucially, I would introduce a junction table called 'OrderItems' to handle the many-to-many relationship between Orders and Products. This table would contain composite foreign keys referencing both 'order_id' and 'product_id', along with quantity and line-item pricing to capture historical snapshot data. This structure ensures Third Normal Form by avoiding data duplication in product descriptions within orders. For performance, I would recommend indexing 'customer_id' and 'order_date' columns to optimize lookup speeds, a practice vital for systems handling Salesforce-level transaction volumes. Finally, adding audit columns like 'created_at' and 'updated_at' would support change tracking essential for enterprise compliance.