QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the importance of data models.

2. What is a business rule, and what is its purpose in data modeling?

A business rule is a brief, precise, and unambiguous description of a policy, procedure, or

3. How do you translate business rules into data model components?

As a general rule, a noun in a business rule will translate into an entity in the model, and a verb
(active or passive) that associates the nouns will translate into a relationship among the entities.
For example, the business rule “a customer may generate many invoices” contains two nouns
(customer and invoices) and a verb (generate) that associates the nouns.

4. Describe the basic features of the relational data model and discuss their importance
to the end user and the designer.

The relational model represented a major breakthrough for both users and designers. To use an
analogy, the relational model produced an “automatic transmission” database to replace the
“standard transmission” databases that preceded it. Its conceptual simplicity set the stage for a
genuine database revolution. Also contains a relational diagram as a representation of the
relational database’s entities, the attributes within those entities, and the relationships between
those entities.

5. Explain how the entity relationship (ER) model helped produce a more structured
relational database design environment.

Because it is easier to examine structures graphically than to describe them in text, database
designers prefer to use a graphical tool in which entities and their relationships are pictured.
Thus, the entity relationship (ER) model, or ERM, has become a widely accepted standard for
data modeling.

6. Consider the scenario described by the statement “A customer can make many
payments, but each payment is made by only one customer.” Use this scenario as the basis
for an entity relationship diagram (ERD) representation.

7. Why is an object said to have greater semantic content than an entity?

An object has greater semantic content because it embodies both data and behavior. That is, the
object contains, in addition to data, also the description of the operations that may be performed
by the object.

8. What is the difference between an object and a class in the object-oriented data model
(OODM)?

Increasingly complex real-world problems demonstrated a need for a data model that more
closely represented the real world. In the object-oriented data model (OODM), both data and its
relationships are contained in a single structure known as an object. In turn, the OODM is the
basis for the object-oriented database management system (OODBMS).

9. How would you model Question 6 with an OODM? (Use Figure 2.4 as your guide.)

10. What is an ERDM, and what role does it play in the modern (production) database
environment?

The ERDM adds many of the OO model’s features within the inherently simpler relational
database structure. The ERDM gave birth to a new generation of relational databases that support
OO features such as objects (encapsulated data and methods), extensible data types based on
classes, and inheritance. That’s why a DBMS based on the ERDM is often described as an
object/relational database management system (O/R DBMS).

PROBLEMS

1. Write the business rule(s) that govern the relationship between AGENT and
CUSTOMER.

One agent can have many customers and One customer have one agent

2. Given the business rule(s) you wrote in Problem 1, create the basic Crow’s Foot ERD.
3. Using the ERD you drew in Problem 2, create the equivalent object representation and
UML class diagram. (Use Figure 2.4 as your guide.)

4. Identify each relationship type and write all of the business rules.

One agent – many employee – one store – one region

5. Create the basic Crow’s Foot ERD for DealCo.