Database and Web Database

Systems
CT014-3-2

Entity Relationship Modelling

Topic & Structure of the lesson

Entity Relationship Modelling
Terminologies
ER Modelling Notations
How to build an ER Model

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

Slide 2 (of 22)

Learning outcomes
At the end of this lecture you should be able
to:
explain terminologies used.
explain the use of ER Modelling notations.
demonstrate how to build an ER Model.

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Key terms you must be able to use

Entity
Attributes
Value of an attribute

Primary Key
Foreign Key
Relationship
degree of relationship
one to one
one to many
many to many

multiplicity
cardinality
CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Terminologies
Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) illustrate
the logical structure of databases.

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Terminologies
Entity
an object about which the system need to store data,
such as Customer or Product
Attributes of an entity
data items or elements that make up that entity
E.g. customerName, customerAddress those significant
to the system

Value of an attribute
E.g. John Barrett is the value of the attribute
customerName

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Terminologies
Primary Key
of an entity is an attribute or a set of attributes whose
values uniquely identify one occurrence of that entity
Entity primary keys are underlined as shown here:
E.g. Customer (customer#, initial, surname,
customerAddress, customerPhone)

Foreign key
an attribute in one entity which is the primary key of
another entity
acts as a link or navigation route between related
entities

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Terminologies
Relationship
a link between two entities which is significant for the
system
E.g. customer places an order
places describes a relationship between Customer and an
order

Degree of relationship
can be
one to one
one to many
many to many

multiplicity and cardinality are used to refer to the degree of

relationship
CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Entity Relationship modelling

Notations
wide variety

Figure 1: Variation 1 Chen Notation from Elmasri book

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Entity Relationship modelling

Notations

Figure 2: Variation 2 Information Engineering notation from Oracle Designer/ 2000 CASE
CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Entity Relationship modelling

Notations

Figure 3: Variation 3 Visible Analyst Notation

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Entity Relationship modelling

Notations

Figure 4: Variation 4 Sybase PowerDesigner Notation

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Entity Relationship modelling

Notations

Figure 5: Variation 5 Popkin System Architect Crows Feet Notation

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Chen Notation

Entity

Multivalued
attribute

Weak Entity

Derived
attribute

Attribute

Relationships

Cardinality

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Key attribute

Weak
Relationships

Recursive
Relationship

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Quick Review Question

List the various notations for
entities
relationships
cardinalities
multiplicities

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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How to build an ER Model (1)[i]

Identify data objects (entities) about which the system needs to

store data.

For each entity, list its attributes and check the attributes for
completeness.

Using the practical guidelines listed below, make any necessary

improvements.
Data items should be put into logical groups groups that go
together.
For each data group, or entity, there should be a key that uniquely
identifies individual members of that entity.

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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How to build an ER Model (2) [i]

There should be no redundant data in the model Data is
deemed redundant in the following situations:
the data is never used by the system
the same data items (CustomerName, CustomerAddress) are
stored in more than one place in the system.
Data in one place can be derifed from data held in another place in
the system.

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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How to build an ER Model (3) [i]

Investigate and record relationships.
link entities so that all significant real-life relationships are
captured.

Check the entity descriptions against the data

dictionary descriptions
Make sure that each process on the data flow diagram has
available to it all the data it needs;
[i] Britton, C., Doake, J., Chapter 5: Data Modelling, Software System Development
A gentle introduction, McGraw-Hill

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Follow-up Assignment
Answer Questions 1 and 2 of Tutorial

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Summary
Entity Relationship Modelling
Terminologies
ER Modelling Notations
How to build an ER Model

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Q & A Session

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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Next Session
Logical Data Modelling

CT014-3-2 Database and Web Database Systems

Entity Relationship Modelling

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