Without complete support, the benefits of Referential Integrity are lost. Users are forced to use ad-hoc application code and procedures to supplement system enforcement, circumventing system control. These alternate integrity enforcement techniques are difficult to develop and to keep intact during maintenance and are often bypassed through the use of higher level database access tools. Complete coverage is not guaranteed, and the integrity of the database is compromised. Users can never trust a database without integrity.
Can Your Database Protect Your Data with Complete Referential Integrity? This is a very important question for database users. Does your system fully protect the integrity of data relationships? Ad-hoc and incomplete protection is worse than no Referential Integrity because users can be lulled into a false sense of security.
Return to Contents Page: Protect Your Data? Return to Can your Database do this?