Western Governors University (WGU) ITEC2104 C175 Data Management - Foundations Practice Exam

Data redundancy refers to the unnecessary duplication of data within a database. When data is stored in multiple locations or in multiple forms, it can lead to various issues such as increased storage costs, data inconsistencies, and complexity in data management. For example, if a customer's information is replicated across different tables or systems, any update made to that information must be applied consistently across all instances, which can be prone to error.

Addressing data redundancy is crucial in database design; techniques such as normalization are used to organize data efficiently by reducing duplication. By minimizing redundancy, databases can maintain integrity, improve performance, and optimize storage utilization.