CHAPTER 3:

THE ENHANCED E-R

MODEL
Dr. Ehab Emam 1
OBJECTIVES
 Define terms
 Understand the use of supertype/subtype relationships
 Understand the use of specialization and generalization techniques
 Specify completeness and disjointness constraints
 Develop supertype/subtype hierarchies for realistic business situations
 Develop entity clusters

2
SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS
 Supertype/Subtype Relationships
 A new modeling construct for extending the original ER model. The extended
result model is the Enhanced ER Model
 Enable us to model a general entity type (called supertype) and
 Then subdivide it into several specialized entity types (called subtypes)
 Example 1:
 Supertype: Car
 Subtypes: sedan, sports car, coupe, and so on.
 Example 2:
 Supertype: Vechicle
 Subtypes: Car, Motorcycle, Bike, Ship, and so on.

3
SUPERTYPES AND SUBTYPES
 Subtype
A subgrouping of the entities in an entity type that has attributes distinct from those
in other subgroupings
 Supertype
A generic entity type that has a relationship with one or more subtypes
 Example
 Supertype: Student
 Subtypes: Undergraduate student, Graduate students
 Attribute Inheritance
An instance of a subtype is also an instance of the supertype
A subtype entity inherit all attributes of the supertype

4
 Figure 3-1 Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation

a) EER notation

Chapter 3
5
 Figure 3-1 Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation (cont.)

b) Microsoft Visio
Notation

Different modeling tools may have different notation for the same modeling constructs.

6
DATA MODELING WITH MANY
SUBTYPES
 Case : An organization with three basic types of employees
 Hourly employees
 Salaried employees
 Contract employees
 Choices for developing a conceptual data model:
1. Define a single entity type
 Advantage : simple
 Disadvantage : an entity instance contain all the attributes for the three types of employees. Some of
the attributes are null.
2. Define a separate entity type for each of the entities
 Advantage : simple
 Disadvantage : fails to exploit common properties of employees (Redundancy).
3. Define a supertype with three subtypes
7
Figure 3-2 Employee supertype with three subtypes
(An example of data model with many subtypes)
All EMPLOYEE subtypes
will have employee
number, name, address,
and date hired

Each EMPLOYEE subtype

will also have its own
attributes

8
Item supertype with three subtypes (Library System)

How to be implemented physically?!

Relationships diagram.
(An example of data model with subtypes)
Relationships diagram.
RELATIONSHIPS AND SUBTYPES
 Relationship at the supertype level
indicate that all subtypes will participate in the relationship
 Relationship at the subtype level
The instances of a subtype may participate in a relationship unique to that subtype.

13
Figure 3-3 Supertype/subtype relationships in a hospital

relationship at supertype level

relationship at subtype level

14
GENERALIZATION AND
SPECIALIZATION
 Generalization
The process of defining a more general entity type from a set of more specialized
entity types.
(BOTTOM-UP process for creating a supertype/subtype relationship)
 The common attributes are put in the supertype.

 Specialization
The process of defining one or more subtypes from the supertype and forming
supertype/subtype relationship.
(TOP-DOWN process for creating a supertype/subtype relationship)
 Each subtype is formed with some distinguished attributes.

15
 Figure 3-4 Example of generalization process
a) Three entity types: CAR, TRUCK, and MOTORCYCLE

1. What are the common attributes for all these types of vehicles ?
2. What is the supertype/subtype relationships ?

16
 Figure 3-4 Example of Generalization process
a) Generalization to VEHICLE supertype

So we put
the shared
attributes in
a supertype

Note
 No subtype for motorcycle, since it has no unique attributes
 The only attributes of MOTOTCYCLE are those common to all vehicles
17
 Figure 3-5 Example of specialization process
b) Entity type PART

Only applies to
manufactured parts

Applies only to purchased parts

(a multivalued composite attribute)

1. What are the attributes specific to each of subtypes?

2. What is the supertype/subtype relationship ?
18
 Figure 3-5 Example of specialization process
b) Specialization to MANUFACTURED PART and PURCHASED PART

Created 2
subtypes

Note : the multivalued composite attribute was replaced

by an associative entity relationship to another entity
19
CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS (1/3)
 Completeness Constraints:
Whether an instance of a supertype must also be a member of at least one subtype?
 Total Specialization Rule: Yes (double line)
Each entity instance of the supertype must be a member of some subtype in the relationship.
 Partial Specialization Rule: No (single line)
An entity instance of the supertype is allowed not to belong to any subtype.

20
Figure 3-6 Examples of completeness constraints
a) Total specialization rule
Figure 3-6 Examples of completeness constraints (cont.)
b) Partial specialization rule

A vehicle can be a motorcycle

22
CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS (2/3)
 Disjointness Constraints:
Whether an instance of a supertype may simultaneously be a member of two (or more)
subtypes?
 Disjoint Rule:
An instance of the supertype can be only a member of ONE of the subtypes
 Overlap Rule:
An instance of the supertype could be a member of more than one of the subtypes

23
 Figure 3-7 Examples of disjointness constraints
a) Disjoint rule- total

PATIENT

RESIDENCE
OUTPATIENT PATIENT

24
Example: disjoint rule- partial

Slide
4- 25
 Figure 3-7 Examples of disjointness constraints (cont.)
b) Overlap rule- Total

PART

M PART P PART

PART

M PART P PART
When does this situation happen ?

some parts are both manufactured and purchased, for example, consider part number 4000. At a given time, the quantity
on hand for this part might be 250, of which 100 are manufactured and the remaining 150 are purchased parts. 26
CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS
 Hence, we have four types of specialization/generalization:
 Disjoint, total
 Disjoint, partial
 Overlapping, total
 Overlapping, partial

 Note: Generalization usually is total because the superclass is derived

from the subclasses.

27
CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS (3/3)
 Subtype Discriminator An attribute of the supertype whose values
determine the target subtype(s)
 For disjoint subtypes
a simple attribute with different values to indicate the possible subtypes
 For overlapping subtypes
a composite attribute whose subparts pertain to different subtypes. Each subpart contains a
Boolean value to indicate whether or not the instance belongs to the associated subtype

28
Figure 3-8 Introducing a subtype discriminator (disjoint rule)

29
Figure 3-9 Subtype discriminator (overlap rule)

1. Three cases:
• Y, Y
• Y, N
• N, Y
2. Why 3
cases?

30
SPECIALIZATION/GENERALIZATION HIERARCHIES,
LATTICES & SHARED SUBCLASSES
 A subclass may itself have further subclasses specified on it, forming a hierarchy
or a lattice
 In a lattice or hierarchy, a subclass inherits attributes not only of its direct
superclass, but also of all its predecessor superclasses
 Hierarchy has a constraint that every subclass has only one superclass (called
single inheritance); this is basically a tree structure
 In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of more than one superclass (called
multiple inheritance), called shared subclass
 Figure 3-10 Example of supertype/subtype hierarchy

What is the situation for each case?

• completeness constraint
• disjointness constraint
• subtype discriminator design
Case 1

Supertype/subtype hierarchy:
A hierarchical arrangement of
supertypes and subtypes in which each
subtype has only one supertype.

Case 2 Case 3

32
Lattice with Shared Subclass “Engineering_Manager” in Lattice
SPECIALIZATION / GENERALIZATION LATTICE
EXAMPLE (UNIVERSITY)

Slide
4- 34
ENTITY CLUSTERS
 EER diagrams are difficult to read when there are too many entities and
relationships.
 Solution:
 Group entities and relationships into entity clusters.
 Entity cluster
A set of one or more entity types and associated relationships grouped into a single abstract
(virtual) entity type

35
Figure 3-13a
Possible entity
clusters for Pine
Valley Furniture in
Microsoft Visio

Related groups
of entities could
become entity
clusters

36
Figure 3-13b EER diagram of entity clusters
for Pine Valley Furniture

More readable,
isn’t it?
37
Figure 3-14 Manufacturing entity cluster

38
PACKAGED DATA MODELS
 Predefined data models
 Can be customized for a particular organization’s business rules
 Could be universal or industry-specific
 Universal data model (also called a “pattern”)
A generic or template data model that can be reused as a starting point for a data modeling
project

39
ADVANTAGES OF PACKAGED
DATA MODELS
 Use proven model components
 Save time and cost
 Less likelihood of data model errors
 Easier to evolve and modify over time
 Aid in requirements determination
 Easier to read
 Supertype/subtype hierarchies promote reuse
 Many-to-many relationships enhance model flexibility
 Vendor-supplied data model fosters integration with vendor’s applications
 Universal models support inter-organizational systems

40
Figure 3-15 PARTY, PARTY ROLE, and ROLE TYPE in
a universal data model
• PARTY
(a) Basic PARTY universal
data model
• generalize persons
or organizations as
actors for the
enterprise
• ROLE TYPE
allows a specific party
to serve in different
roles during different
time periods.
• PARTY ROLE
generalizes various
roles parties can play
at different times
• A PARTY ROLE
instance is a situation
in which a PARTY
acts in a particular 41

ROLE TYPE.
Figure 3-15 (b) PARTY supertype/subtype hierarchy
One PARTY supertype with many subtypes covering many party roles

42