I just tried to update my message to say that maybe your data is normalized...but you replied too fast :)

The next question is why 16 fields? Is this just a guess of a maximum number there might be? What if business requirments change? As a child table, getting the data for the report becomes a simple join. For data entry screen purposes, you can still show it the same way as you currently are.

>The data is normalized, although I understand why one might think it is not. But you make a good point about the field length hitting the limit of 254 char. So I have to rethink the strategy of displaying the fields. Thank you for your input and suggestions.
>
>>Hmmm...without knowing any details of the application, my first opinion is that these should not be in 16 fields, but in a separate table (related to the first), containing one record for each piece of equipment. Sounds like your data is not properly normalized.
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>>Another problem with your scheme is that it will crash when you hit 13 fields...255 (or 254?) character limitation per field...unless you are trimming the fields).
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>>How would you split this to rows once it got to the report?
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