Database Fundamentals- Content Analysis
Chap 5.ppt
Database Principles: Fundamentals of Design, Implementations and Management
CHAPTER 5 Data Modelling
With Entity Relationship Diagrams
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Objectives
- In this chapter, you will learn:
- The main characteristics of entity relationship components
- How relationships between entities are defined, refined, and incorporated into the database design process
- How ERD components affect database design and implementation
- That real-world database design often requires the reconciliation of conflicting goals
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The Entity Relationship (ER) Model
- ER model forms the basis of an ER diagram
- ERD represents conceptual database as viewed by the end user
- ERDs depict database’s main components:
- Entities
- Attributes
- Relationships
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Entities
- Refers to entity set and not to single entity occurrence
- Corresponds to a table and not to row in relational environment
- In Chen and Crow’s Foot models, entity is represented by a rectangle with an entity’s name
- Entity name, a noun, written in capital letters
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Attributes
- Characteristics of entities
- Chen notation: attributes represented by ovals connected to entity rectangle with a line
- Each oval contains the name of attribute it represents
- Crow’s Foot notation: attributes written in attribute box below entity rectangle
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Attributes (cont..)
- Required attribute: must have a value
- Optional attribute: may be left empty
- Domain: set of possible values for an attribute
- Attributes may share a domain
- Identifiers: one or more attributes that uniquely identify each entity instance
- Composite identifier: primary key composed of more than one attribute
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Attributes (cont..)
- Composite attribute can be subdivided
- Simple attribute cannot be subdivided
- Single-value attribute can have only a single value
- Multivalued attributes can have many values
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Attributes (cont..)
- M:N relationships and multivalued attributes should not be implemented
- Create several new attributes for each of the original multivalued attributes components
- Create new entity composed of original multivalued attributes components
- Derived attribute: value may be calculated from other attributes
- Need not be physically stored within database
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Relationships
- Association between entities
- Participants are entities that participate in a relationship
- Relationships between entities always operate in both directions
- Relationship can be classified as 1:M
- Relationship classification is difficult to establish if only one side of the relationship is known
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Connectivity and Cardinality
- Connectivity
- Describes the relationship classification
- Cardinality
- Expresses minimum and maximum number of entity occurrences associated with one occurrence of related entity
- Established by very concise statements known as business rules
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Existence Dependence
- Existence dependence
- Entity exists in database only when it is associated with another related entity occurrence
- Existence independence
- Entity can exist apart from one or more related entities
- Sometimes such an entity is referred to as a strong or regular entity
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Relationship Strength
- Weak (non-identifying) relationships
- Exists if PK of related entity does not contain PK component of parent entity
- Strong (identifying) relationships
- Exists when PK of related entity contains PK component of parent entity
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Weak (Non-Identifying) Relationships
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Strong (Identifying) Relationships
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Weak Entities
- Weak entity meets two conditions
- Existence-dependent
- Cannot exist without entity with which it has a relationship
- Has a primary key that is partially or totally derived from parent entity in relationship
- Database designer usually determines whether an entity can be described as weak based on business rules
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Strong Entity
Weak Entity
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Weak Entities (cont..)
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Relationship Participation
- Optional participation
- One entity occurrence does not require corresponding entity occurrence in particular relationship
- Mandatory participation
- One entity occurrence requires corresponding entity occurrence in particular relationship
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Relationship Participation (cont..)
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Relationship Participation (cont..)
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Relationship Degree
- Indicates number of entities or participants associated with a relationship
- Unary relationship
- Association is maintained within single entity
- Binary relationship
- Two entities are associated
- Ternary relationship
- Three entities are associated
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Relationship Degree (cont..)
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Relationship Degree (cont..)
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Recursive Relationships
- Relationship can exist between occurrences of the same entity set
- Naturally found within unary relationship
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Recursive Relationships (cont..)
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Recursive Relationships (cont..)
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Associative (Composite) Entities
- Also known as bridge entities
- Used to implement M:N relationships
- Composed of primary keys of each of the entities to be connected
- May also contain additional attributes that play no role in connective process
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Composite Entities (cont..)
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Composite Entities (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram
- Database design is iterative rather than linear or sequential process
- Iterative process
- Based on repetition of processes and procedures
- Building an ERD usually involves the following activities:
- Create detailed narrative of organization’s description of operations
- Identify business rules based on description of operations
- Identify main entities and relationships from business rules
- Develop initial ERD
- Identify attributes and primary keys that adequately describe entities
- Revise and review ERD
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Developing an ER Diagram (cont..)
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Database Design Challenges:
Conflicting Goals
- Database designers must make design compromises
- Conflicting goals:
- design standards,
- processing speed,
- information requirements
- Important to meet logical requirements and design conventions
- Design of little value unless it delivers all specified query and reporting requirements
- Some design and implementation problems do not yield “clean” solutions
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Database Design Challenges: Conflicting Goals (cont.)
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Summary
- Entity relationship (ER) model
- Uses ERD to represent conceptual database as viewed by end user
- ERM’s main components:
- Entities
- Relationships
- Attributes
- Includes connectivity and cardinality notations
- Multiplicities are based on business rules
- In ERM, M:M relationship is valid at conceptual level
- ERDs may be based on many different ERMs
- Database designers are often forced to make design compromises