There is no single solution that will be effective always. Try different techniques while designing and developing the tables. Never rely on gut feel. If there are some queries that are posing problems, or take a long time to run, separate them for further optimisation. Install a data mining package if you consider necessary.
Data mining is the process of converting data into information.
Information is defined as processed data. There are several data mining tools such as SAS, Knowledge Seeker from Angoss, Intelligent Miner from IBM and Darwin from Thinking Machines. These programs ascertain hitherto unknown facts, correlations and relationships that lie hidden in the data. In India, the use of data mining tools is just about beginning. We'll know soon enough, says Anita Sharan .