2. The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
E-R Model Components
Entities
In E-R models an entity refers to the entity set.
An entity is represented by a rectangle containing the
entity’s name.
Attributes
Attributes are represented by ovals and are connected to
the entity with a line.
Each oval contains the name of the attribute it represents.
Attributes have a domain -- the attribute’s set of possible
values.
Attributes may share a domain.
Primary keys are underlined.
Relationships
5. The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Classes of Attributes
A simple attribute cannot be subdivided.
Examples: Age, Sex, and Marital status
A composite attribute can be further subdivided
to yield additional attributes.
Examples:
– ADDRESS
Street, City, State, Zip
– PHONE NUMBER Area code, Exchange
number
6. The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Classes of Attributes
A single-valued attribute can have only a single value.
Examples:
– A person can have only one social security number.
– A manufactured part can have only one serial
number.
Multivalued attributes can have many values.
Examples:
– A person may have several college degrees.
– A household may have several phones with different
numbers
Multivalued attributes are shown by a double line
connecting to the entity.
7. The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Multivalued Attribute in Relational DBMS
The relational DBMS cannot implement multivalued
attributes.
Possible courses of action for the designer
Within the original entity, create several new attributes,
one for each of the original multivalued attribute’s
components.
Create a new entity composed of the original multivalued
attribute’s components
9. A New Entity Set Composed of Multivalued
Attribute’s Components
10. A derived attribute is not physically stored within the
database; instead, it is derived by using an algorithm.
Example: AGE can be derived from the data of birth and
the current date.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure: A Derived Attribute
11. Relationships
A relationship is an association between entities.
Relationships are represented by diamond-shaped
symbols.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure :An Entity Relationship
12. A relationship’s degree indicates the number of associated
entities or participants.
A unary relationship exists when an association is maintained
within a single entity.
A binary relationship exists when two entities are associated.
A ternary relationship exists when three entities are associated.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
13. Connectivity
The term connectivity is used to describe the
relationship classification (e.g., one-to-one, one-to-
many, and many-to-many).
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure :Connectivity in an ERD
14. Cardinality
Cardinality expresses the specific number of entity
occurrences associated with one occurrence of the
related entity.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure :Cardinality in an ERD
15. Relationship Participation
The participation is optional if one entity occurrence
does not require a corresponding entity occurrence in a
particular relationship.
An optional entity is shown by a small circle on the side
of the optional entity.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure : An ERD With An Optional Entity
16. Figure : CLASS is Optional to COURSE
Figure : COURSE and CLASS in a Mandatory Relationship
17. Weak Entities
A weak entity is an entity that
Is existence-dependent and
Has a primary key that is partially or totally derived
from the parent entity in the relationship.
The existence of a weak entity is indicated by a
double rectangle.
The weak entity inherits all or part of its primary key
from its strong counterpart.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
19. Recursive Entities
A recursive entity is one in which a relationship can
exist between occurrences of the same entity set.
A recursive entity is found within a unary relationship.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
Figure : An E-R Representation of Recursive Relationships
20. Composite Entities
A composite entity is composed of the primary
keys of each of the entities to be connected.
The composite entity serves as a bridge between
the related entities.
The composite entity may contain additional
attributes.
The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model
23. Developing an E-R Diagram
The process of database design is an iterative rather
than a linear or sequential process.
It usually begins with a general narrative of the
organization’s operations and procedures.
The basic E-R model is graphically depicted and
presented for review.
The process is repeated until the end users and
designers agree that the E-R diagram is a fair
representation of the organization’s activities and
functions.
24. B.D. College Database (1)
College is divided into several schools. Each
school is administered by a dean. A 1:1
relationship exists between DEAN and SCHOOL.
Each dean is a member of a group of
administrators (ADMINISTRATOR). Deans also
hold professorial rank and may teach a class
(PROFESSOR). Administrators and professors are
also Employees.
Developing an E-R Diagram
26. Developing an E-R Diagram
B.D. College Database (2)
Each school is composed of several departments.
The smallest number of departments operated by a
school is one, and the largest number of departments
is indeterminate (N).
Each department belongs to only a single school.
Figure : The First B.D. College ERD Segment
27. B.D. College Database (3)
Each department offers several courses.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Second B.D. College ERD Segment
28. B.D. College Database (4)
A department may offer several sections (classes) of
the same course.
A 1:M relationship exists between COURSE and CLASS.
CLASS is optional to COURSE
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Third B.D. College ERD Segment
29. B.D. College Database (5)
Each department has many professors assigned to it.
One of those professors chairs the department. Only
one of the professors can chair the department.
DEPARTMENT is optional to PROFESSOR in the
“chairs” relationship.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Fourth B.D. College ERD Segment
30. B.D. College Database (6)
Each professor may teach up to four classes,
each one a section of a course.
A professor may also be on a research contract
and teach no classes.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Fifth B.D. College ERD Segment
31. B.D. College Database (7)
A student may enroll in several classes, but (s)he takes
each class only once during any given enrollment
period.
Each student may enroll in up to six classes and each
class may have up to 35 students in it.
STUDENT is optional to CLASS.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Sixth B.D. College ERD Segment
32. B.D. College Database (8)
Each department has several students whose major is
offered by that department.
Each student has only a single major and associated
with a single department.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Seventh B.D. College ERD Segment
33. B.D. College Database (9)
Each student has an advisor in his or her department;
each advisor counsels several students.
An advisor is also a professor, but not all professors
advise students.
Developing an E-R Diagram
Figure : The Eighth B.D. College ERD Segment
34. Entities for the B.D. College Database
SCHOOL
DEPARMENT
EMPLOYEE
PROFESSOR
COURSE
CLASS
ENROLL (Bridge between
STUDENT and CLASS)
STUDENT
Developing an E-R Diagram
37. Extended E-R Features: Specialization
Top-down design process; we designate subgroupings
within an entity set that are distinctive from other
entities in the set.
These subgroupings become lower-level entity sets
that have attributes or participate in relationships that
do not apply to the higher-level entity set.
Depicted by a triangle component labeled ISA (E.g.
customer “is a” person).
Attribute inheritance – a lower-level entity set inherits
all the attributes and relationship participation of the
higher-level entity set to which it is linked.
39. Extended ER Features: Generalization
A bottom-up design process – combine a number of
entity sets that share the same features into a higher-
level entity set.
Specialization and generalization are simple inversions
of each other; they are represented in an E-R diagram
in the same way.
The terms specialization and generalization are used
interchangeably.
40. Specialization and Generalization (Cont.)
Can have multiple specializations of an entity set
based on different features.
E.g. permanent_employee vs. temporary_employee, in
addition to officer vs. secretary vs. teller
Each particular employee would be
a member of one of
permanent_employee or
temporary_employee,
and also a member of one of officer,
secretary, or teller
The ISA relationship also referred to as superclass -
subclass relationship
41. Aggregation
Consider the ternary relationship works_on
Suppose we want to record managers for tasks performed by an
employee at a branch
42. Aggregation (Cont.)
Relationship sets works_on and manages represent
overlapping information
Every manages relationship corresponds to a works_on
relationship
However, some works_on relationships may not correspond to
any manages relationships
So we can’t discard the works_on relationship
Eliminate this redundancy via aggregation
Treat relationship as an abstract entity
Allows relationships between relationships
Abstraction of relationship into new entity
Without introducing redundancy, the following diagram
represents:
An employee works on a particular job at a particular branch
An employee, branch, job combination may have an
associated manager