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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-09T08:49:59+00:00

I have a question, in a T-SQL setting which is faster and better and

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I have a question, in a T-SQL setting which is faster and better and futureproof?

Is it easier to have a lookup table with IDs and status entries as so

ID | Status
-------------
01 | Success
02 | Failure
03 | Processing

Or is it better to just enter the status values in per row?

How does this effect writing queries, is it good relational database design to use a lookup table rather than just entering a status into rows? Is one faster than the other?

I feel that lookup tables are the way to go, but I’m not seeing that so much in some databases.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I personally would use a separate status table for those items. Then you will use a foreign key between your main table and the separate status table. As far as querying you will just use a JOIN to include the actual status name. 

    SELECT *
FROM yourTable t
LEFT JOIN yourStatus s
    t.sid = s.id

    I think it allows for more flexibility, in the event your status names change you are only changing the values in your separate table rather than performing an UPDATE against your main table.

    Your table structure could be similar to this:

    MainTable
id int PK,
sid int FK - to status table
col3,
col4...

Status Table
id int PK - 
name varchar(50)
IsActive bit
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