Entity/Relationship Modelling

Topics To Be Covered

 In This Lecture
 • Entity/Relationship models
 • Entities and Attributes
 • Relationships
 • Attributes
 • E/R Diagrams
 Component of ERD
 Entity = An entity may be an object with physical
existence (for example, a particular person, car, house or
employee) or it may be a conceptual existence (for
example a particular company, a job, a university
course).

 Attribute = property of an entity set.

 – Generally, all entities in a set have the same properties.
 – Attributes are simple values, e.g. integers or character
strings.
 For example: An EMPLOYEE entity may be described by the
employee age, address, salary, and a job.
Symbols Of Entity Relationship Model
E/R Diagrams

 • In an entity‐relationship relationship diagram, each entity set is

represented by a rectangle.
 Each attribute of an entity set is represented by an oval, with a line
to the rectangle representing its entity set.

Ideas E/R Design Relational Schema Relational DBMS

 Relationship:
 A relationship among the two or more entities
represent an association among two or more
entities.
 For example work-on relationship between an
employer and a project.

 One-To-Many Relationships
 A one-to-many relationship is the most common
type of relationship. In this type of relationship, a
row in table A can have many matching rows in
table B, but a row in table B can have only one
matching row in table A.
 Many-To-Many Relationships
 In a many-to-many relationship, a row in table A can
have many matching rows in table B, and vice versa. You
create such a relationship by defining a third table, called
a junction table, whose primary key consists of the
foreign keys from both table A and table B.

 One-To-One Relationships
 In a one-to-one relationship, a row in table A can have no
more than one matching row in table B, and vice versa. A
one-to-one relationship is created if both of the related
columns are primary keys or have unique constraints.
 Derived Attribute:
 The attribute which actually doesn’t exist but is driven on the basis of pre-exist data, e.g. DOB is
entered instead of age.

 Single Valued Attribute:

 Most attribute have a single value for a particular entity; such attribute are called single-valued
attribute.

 Multivalued Attribute:
 Multivalued Attribute consist of more than one value. For example one person may not have a
college degree, another person may have two college degrees, and a third person may have three
college degree.
 Tuples:
 Row are known as tuple
 Cardinality:
 No of rows or tuples is known as cardinality.
 Degree:
 No of attribute are known as degree.
 Conceptual design
 • Build a model independent of the choice of DBMS
 Logical design
 Create the database in a given DBMS
 • Physical design
 • How the database is stored in hardware
Example

 • Ina University database we might have entities for Students,

Modules and Lecturers. Students might have attributes such as their
ID, Name, and Course, and could have relationships with Modules
(enrolment) and Lecturers (tutor/tutee)
Entities
 Entities represent objects or things of interest
 Physical things like students, lecturers, employees, products.
 More abstract things like modules, orders, courses, projects.
 In an E/R Diagram, an entity is usually drawn as a rectangular box.
 • The box is labelled with the name of the class of objects
represented by that entity
Difference B/W Entities and Instances

 Entities have a general type or class, such as Lecturer or

Module
 Instances of that particular type, such as Steve Mills,
Robert James are instances of Lecturer.
 Attributes (such as name, email address)
Slide
3- 15 Overview of Database Design Process

 Two main activities:

 Database design
 Applications design
 Focus in this chapter on database design
 To design the conceptual schema for a database application
 Applications design focuses on the programs and interfaces that access the database
 Generally considered part of software engineering
Slide
3- 16 Overview of Database Design Process
Slide
3- 17 Example COMPANY Database
 We need to create a database schema design based on the
following (simplified) requirements of the COMPANY
Database:
 The company is organized into DEPARTMENTs. Each
department has a name, number and an employee who
manages the department. We keep track of the start date
of the department manager. A department may have
several locations.
 Each department controls a number of PROJECTs.
Each project has a unique name, unique number and is
located at a single location.
 Example COMPANY Database (Contd.)
Slide
3- 18

 We store each EMPLOYEE’s social security number, address, salary,

gender, and birthdate.
 Each employee works for one department but may work on several
projects.
 We keep track of the number of hours per week that an employee
currently works on each project.
 We also keep track of the direct supervisor of each employee.
 Each employee may have a number of DEPENDENTs.
 For each dependent, we keep track of their name, gender, birthdate,
and relationship to the employee.
Slide
3- 19 ER Model Concepts
 Entities and Attributes
 Entities are specific objects or things in the mini-world that are
represented in the database.
 For example the EMPLOYEE John Smith, the Research DEPARTMENT,
the ProductX PROJECT
 Attributes are properties used to describe an entity.
 For example an EMPLOYEE entity may have the attributes Name, SSN,
Address, Gender, BirthDate
 A specific entity will have a value for each of its attributes.
 For example a specific employee entity may have Name='John Smith',
SSN='123456789', Address ='731, Fondren, Houston, TX', Gender='M',
BirthDate='09-JAN-55‘
 Each attribute has a value set (or data type) associated with it – e.g.
integer, string, subrange, enumerated type, …
Slide
3- 20 Types of Attributes (1)
 Simple
 Each entity has a single atomic value for the attribute. For example, SSN
or Gender.
 Composite
 The attribute may be composed of several components. For example:
 Address(Apt#, House#, Street, City, State, ZipCode, Country), or
 Name(FirstName, MiddleName, LastName).
 Composition may form a hierarchy where some components are
themselves composite.
 Multi-valued
 An entity may have multiple values for that attribute. For example, Color
of a CAR or PreviousDegrees of a STUDENT.
 Denoted as {Color} or {PreviousDegrees}.
Slide
3- 21 Types of Attributes (2)
 In general, composite and multi-valued attributes may be nested
arbitrarily to any number of levels, although this is rare.
 For example, PreviousDegrees of a STUDENT is a composite
multi-valued attribute denoted by {PreviousDegrees (College,
Year, Degree, Field)}
 Multiple PreviousDegrees values can exist
 Each has four subcomponent attributes:
 College, Year, Degree, Field
Slide
3- 22 Example of a composite attribute
Slide
3- 23 Entity Types and Key Attributes (1)

 Entities with the same basic attributes are grouped or

typed into an entity type.
 For example, the entity type EMPLOYEE and
PROJECT.
 An attribute of an entity type for which each entity
must have a unique value is called a key attribute of the
entity type.
 For example, SSN of EMPLOYEE.
Slide
3- 24 Entity Types and Key Attributes (2)

 A key attribute may be composite.

 VehicleTagNumber is a key of the CAR entity type with

components (Number, State).
 An entity type may have more than one key.

 The CAR entity type may have two keys:

 VehicleIdentificationNumber (popularly called VIN)
 VehicleTagNumber (Number, State), aka license plate number.

 Each key is underlined

Slide
3- 25 Displaying an Entity type

 In ER diagrams, an entity type is displayed in a rectangular box

 Attributes are displayed in ovals
 Each attribute is connected to its entity type
 Components of a composite attribute are connected to the oval
representing the composite attribute
 Each key attribute is underlined
 Multivalued attributes displayed in double ovals
 See CAR example on next slide
Slide
3- 26 Entity Type CAR with two keys and a corresponding
Entity Set
Slide
3- 27 Entity Set

 Each entity type will have a collection of entities stored in the

database
 Called the entity set
 Previous slide shows three CAR entity instances in the entity set for
CAR
 Same name (CAR) used to refer to both the entity type and the
entity set
 Entity set is the current state of the entities of that type that are
stored in the database
Slide
3- 28 Initial Design of Entity Types for the COMPANY
Database Schema
 Based on the requirements, we can identify four initial entity types in the COMPANY
database:
 DEPARTMENT
 PROJECT
 EMPLOYEE
 DEPENDENT
 Their initial design is shown on the following slide
 The initial attributes shown are derived from the requirements description
Slide
3- 29 Initial Design of Entity Types:
EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT, PROJECT, DEPENDENT
Slide
3- 30 Refining the initial design by introducing
relationships

 The initial design is typically not complete

 Some aspects in the requirements will be represented as relationships
 ER model has three main concepts:
 Entities (and their entity types and entity sets)
 Attributes (simple, composite, multivalued)
 Relationships (and their relationship types and relationship sets)
 We introduce relationship concepts next
Slide
3- 31 Relationships and Relationship Types (1)
 A relationship relates two or more distinct entities with a specific
meaning.
 For example, EMPLOYEE John Smith works on the ProductX PROJECT,
or EMPLOYEE Franklin Wong manages the Research DEPARTMENT.
 Relationships of the same type are grouped or typed into a
relationship type.
 For example, the WORKS_ON relationship type in which EMPLOYEEs
and PROJECTs participate, or the MANAGES relationship type in which
EMPLOYEEs and DEPARTMENTs participate.
 The degree of a relationship type is the number of participating
entity types.
 Both MANAGES and WORKS_ON are binary relationships.
 Relationship instances

 In the mini-world represented by figure below employees

e1, e2, e3 and e6 work for department d1, e2 and e4 works
for d2 and e5 and e7 work for d3.
Slide
3- 33 Relationship type vs. relationship set (1)

 Relationship Type:
 Is the schema description of a relationship
 Identifies the relationship name and the participating entity types
 Also identifies certain relationship constraints
 Relationship Set:
 The current set of relationship instances represented in the database
 The current state of a relationship type
Relationship types and instances
Slide
3- 35 Relationship type vs. relationship set (2)

 Previous figures displayed the relationship sets

 Each instance in the set relates individual participating entities – one from each
participating entity type
 In ER diagrams, we represent the relationship type as follows:
 Diamond-shaped box is used to display a relationship type
 Connected to the participating entity types via straight lines
 Refining the COMPANY database schema by
Slide
3- 36
introducing relationships

 By examining the requirements, six relationship types are identified

 All are binary relationships( degree 2)
 Listed below with their participating entity types:
 WORKS_FOR (between EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT)
 MANAGES (also between EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT)
 CONTROLS (between DEPARTMENT, PROJECT)
 WORKS_ON (between EMPLOYEE, PROJECT)
 SUPERVISION (between EMPLOYEE (as subordinate), EMPLOYEE (as
supervisor))
 DEPENDENTS_OF (between EMPLOYEE, DEPENDENT)
Slide
3- 37 ER Diagram For Company Database
Slide
3- 38 Discussion on Relationship Types

 In the refined design, some attributes from the initial entity types are refined into
relationships:
 Manager of DEPARTMENT -> MANAGES
 Works_on of EMPLOYEE -> WORKS_ON
 Department of EMPLOYEE -> WORKS_FOR
 etc
 In general, more than one relationship type can exist between the same
participating entity types
 MANAGES and WORKS_FOR are distinct relationship types between EMPLOYEE
and DEPARTMENT
 With different meanings and different relationship instances.
Slide
3- 39 Recursive Relationship Type

 Is a relationship type with the same participating entity type in distinct

roles
 Example: the SUPERVISION relationship
 EMPLOYEE participates twice in two distinct roles:
 supervisor (or boss) role
 supervisee (or subordinate) role
 Each relationship instance relates two distinct EMPLOYEE entities:
 One employee in supervisor role
 One employee in supervisee role
Example of relationships of different degrees

(a) Unary recursive relationships

Slide
3- 41 Weak Entity Types
 An entity that does not have a key attribute
 A weak entity must participate in an identifying relationship type with an owner
or identifying entity type
 Entities are identified by the combination of:
 A partial key of the weak entity type
 The particular entity they are related to in the identifying entity type
 Example:
 A DEPENDENT entity is identified by the dependent’s first name, and the
specific EMPLOYEE with whom the dependent is related
 Name of DEPENDENT is the partial key
 DEPENDENT is a weak entity type
 EMPLOYEE is its identifying entity type via the identifying relationship type
DEPENDENT_OF
Slide
3- 42 Weak Entity Type
Slide
3- 43 Constraints on Relationships

 Constraints on Relationship Types

 Cardinality Ratio (specifies maximum participation)
 (Also known as ratio constraints)
 One-to-one (1:1)
 One-to-many (1:N) or Many-to-one (N:1)
 Many-to-many (M:N)
 Existence Dependency Constraint (specifies minimum participation) (also
called participation constraint)
 zero (optional participation, not existence-dependent)
 one or more (mandatory participation, existence-dependent)
Slide
3- 44 Supervision Relationship
Slide
3- 45 Manages Relationship
 Recursive Relationship Type is: SUPERVISION
Slide (participation role names are shown)
3- 46
Slide
3- 47 Attributes of Relationship types

 A relationship type can have attributes:

 For example, HoursPerWeek of WORKS_ON
 Its value for each relationship instance describes the number of hours per
week that an EMPLOYEE works on a PROJECT.
 A value of HoursPerWeek depends on a particular (employee, project)
combination
 Most relationship attributes are used with M:N relationships
 In 1:N relationships, they can be transferred to the entity type on the N-
side of the relationship
Slide
3- 48 Notation for Constraints on Relationships

 Cardinality ratio (of a binary relationship): 1:1, 1:N, N:1, or M:N

 Shown by placing appropriate numbers on the relationship edges.
 Participation constraint (on each participating entity type): total (called existence
dependency) or partial.
 Total shown by double line, partial by single line.
 NOTE: These are easy to specify for Binary Relationship Types.
Description Of Total And Partial Participant

 1. MANAGES, a 1:1 relationship type between EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT. EMPLOYEE

participation is partial. DEPARTMENT participation is not clear from the requirements. We
question the users, who say that a department must have a manager at all times, which implies
total participation. The attribute StartDate is assigned to this relationship type.
 2. WORKSJOR, a I:N relationship type between DEPARTMENT and EMPLOYEE. Both
participations are total.
 3. CONTROLS, a I:N relationship type between DEPARTMENT and PROJECT. The
participation of PROJECT is total, whereas that of DEPARTMENT is determined to be partial,
after consultation with the users indicates that some departments may control no projects.
 4. SUPERVISION, a I:N relationship type between EMPLOYEE (in the supervisor role) and
EMPLOYEE (in the supervisee role). Both participations are determined to be partial, after the
users indicate that not every employee is a supervisor and not every employee has a supervisor.
 5. WORKS_ON, determined to be an M:N relationship type with attribute Hours, after the users
indicate that a project can have several employees working on it. Both participations are
determined to be total.
 6. DEPENDENTS_OF, a l:N relationship type between EMPLOYEE and DEPENDENT, which is
also the identifying relationship for the weak entity type DEPENDENT. The participation of
EMPLOYEE is partial, whereas that of DEPENDENT is total.
 Alternative (min, max) notation for relationship
Slide
3- 50
structural constraints:
 Specified on each participation of an entity type E in a relationship type R
 Specifies that each entity e in E participates in at least min and at most max relationship
instances in R
 Default(no constraint): min=0, max=n (signifying no limit)
 Must have minmax, min0, max 1
 Derived from the knowledge of mini-world constraints
 Examples:
 A department has exactly one manager and an employee can manage at most one
department.
 Specify (0,1) for participation of EMPLOYEE in MANAGES
 Specify (1,1) for participation of DEPARTMENT in MANAGES
 An employee can work for exactly one department but a department can have any
number of employees.
 Specify (1,1) for participation of EMPLOYEE in WORKS_FOR
 Specify (0,n) for participation of DEPARTMENT in WORKS_FOR
Slide
3- 51 Alternative diagrammatic notation

 ER diagrams is one popular example for displaying database schemas

 Many other notations exist in the literature and in various database design and modeling
tools
 Appendix A illustrates some of the alternative notations that have been used
 UML class diagrams is representative of another way of displaying ER concepts that is
used in several commercial design tools
 Summary of notation for ER diagrams
Slide
3- 52
 UML class diagrams
Slide
3- 53  Represent classes (similar to entity types) as large rounded boxes with
three sections:
 Top section includes entity type (class) name
 Second section includes attributes
 Third section includes class operations (operations are not in basic ER
model)
 Relationships (called associations) represented as lines connecting the
classes
 Other UML terminology also differs from ER terminology
 Used in database design and object-oriented software design
 UML has many other types of diagrams for software design (see
Chapter 12)
 UML class diagram for COMPANY database schema
Slide
3- 54
 Other alternative diagrammatic notations
Slide
3- 55
Slide
3- 56 Relationships of Higher Degree

 Relationship types of degree 2 are called binary

 Relationship types of degree 3 are called ternary and of degree n are called n-ary
 In general, an n-ary relationship is not equivalent to n binary relationships
 Constraints are harder to specify for higher-degree relationships (n > 2) than for binary
relationships
Slide
3- 57 Discussion of n-ary relationships (n > 2)

 In general, 3 binary relationships can represent different information

than a single ternary relationship (see Figure 3.17a and b on next
slide)
 If needed, the binary and n-ary relationships can all be included in
the schema design (see Figure 3.17a and b, where all relationships
convey different meanings)
 In some cases, a ternary relationship can be represented as a weak
entity if the data model allows a weak entity type to have multiple
identifying relationships (and hence multiple owner entity types)
(see Figure 3.17c)
Slide
3- 58 Example of a ternary relationship
Slide
3- 59 Discussion of n-ary relationships (n > 2)

 If a particular binary relationship can be derived from a higher-

degree relationship at all times, then it is redundant
 For example, the TAUGHT_DURING binary relationship in Figure
3.18 (see next slide) can be derived from the ternary relationship
OFFERS (based on the meaning of the relationships)
Slide
3- 60 Another example of a ternary relationship
Slide
3- 61 Displaying constraints on higher-degree relationships

 The (min, max) constraints can be displayed on the edges –

however, they do not fully describe the constraints
 Displaying a 1, M, or N indicates additional constraints
 An M or N indicates no constraint
 A 1 indicates that an entity can participate in at most one relationship
instance that has a particular combination of the other participating
entities
 In general, both (min, max) and 1, M, or N are needed to describe
fully the constraints
Slide
3- 62 Data Modeling Tools

 A number of popular tools that cover conceptual modeling and mapping into
relational schema design.
 Examples: ERWin, S- Designer (Enterprise Application Suite), ER- Studio, etc.
 POSITIVES:
 Serves as documentation of application requirements, easy user interface - mostly
graphics editor support
 NEGATIVES:
 Most tools lack a proper distinct notation for relationships with relationship
attributes
 Mostly represent a relational design in a diagrammatic form rather than a conceptual
ER-based design
(See Chapter 12 for details)
 Some of the Currently Available
Slide
3- 63 Automated Database Design Tools
COMPANY TOOL FUNCTIONALITY
Embarcadero ER Studio Database Modeling in ER and IDEF1X
Technologies
DB Artisan Database administration, space and security management

Oracle Developer 2000/Designer 2000 Database modeling, application development

Popkin Software System Architect 2001 Data modeling, object modeling, process modeling,
structured analysis/design
Platinum Enterprise Modeling Suite: Erwin, Data, process, and business component modeling
(Computer BPWin, Paradigm Plus
Associates)
Persistence Inc. Pwertier Mapping from O-O to relational model

Rational (IBM) Rational Rose UML Modeling & application generation in C++/JAVA
Resolution Ltd. Xcase Conceptual modeling up to code maintenance
Sybase Enterprise Application Suite Data modeling, business logic modeling
Visio Visio Enterprise Data modeling, design/reengineering Visual Basic/C++
Slide
3- 64 Extended Entity-Relationship (EER) Model (in
next chapter)

 The entity relationship model in its original form did not support the specialization and
generalization abstractions
 Next chapter illustrates how the ER model can be extended with
 Type-subtype and set-subset relationships
 Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies
 Notation to display them in EER diagrams
Slide
3- 65 Chapter Summary

 ER Model Concepts: Entities, attributes, relationships

 Constraints in the ER model
 Using ER in step-by-step conceptual schema design for the COMPANY database
 ER Diagrams - Notation
 Alternative Notations – UML class diagrams, others