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10 views10 pages

Ref Model

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23022cm010
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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In Database Management Systems, ER stands for Entity-Relationship.

ER modelling helps to figure out the set of entities, attributes of each


entity, and the relationship that is shared between entities. In other
words it helps us to explain the logical structure of databases.

This image shows the ER-Diagram for a Company Database.

Now, let’s convert this ER-Diagram to Relational Schema…


Step 1:

● Figure out all the regular/strong entities from the diagram and
then create a corresponding relation(table) that includes all the
simple attributes.
● Choose one of the attributes as a primary key. If composite, the
simple attributes together form the primary key.
● For the given ER-Diagram we have Employee, Department
and Project as strong/regular entities, as they are enclosed in a
single rectangle.
● So, we create respective relations that are depicted in the figure
below.

After step 1:
Step 2:

● Figure out the weak entity types from the diagram and create a
corresponding relation(table) that includes all its simple
attributes.
● Add as foreign key all of the primary key attributes in the entity
corresponding to the owner entity.
● The primary key is a combination of all the primary key
attributes from the owner and the primary key of the weak
entity.
● For the given ER-Diagram we have Dependent as a weak entity,
as it is enclosed in a double rectangle that is indicative of an
entity being weak.
● The Dependent relation(table) is created that is shown in the
figure below.
Step 3:

● Now we need to figure out the entities from the ER diagram for
which there exists a 1-to-1 relationship.
● The entities for which there exists a 1-to-1 relationship, choose
one relation(table) as S, the other as T.
Better if S has total participation (reduces the number of NULL
values).
● Then we need to add to S all the simple attributes of the
relationship if there exists any.
● After that, we add as a foreign key in S the primary key
attributes of T.
● For the given ER-Diagram there exists a 1-to-1 relationship
between Employee and Department entity.
● Here Department has total participation therefore consider it
as relation S and Employee as relation T.
● The 1-to-1 mapping between Employee and Department is
depicted in the figure below.
Step 4:

● Now we need to figure out the entities from ER diagram for


which there exists a 1-to-N relationship.
● The entities for which there exists a 1-to-N relationship, choose
a relation as S as the type at N-side of relationship and other as
T.
● Then we add as a foreign key to S all of the primary key
attributes of T.
● In the given ER diagram there are two 1-to-N relationships that
exist between Employee-Department and
Employee-Dependent entity.
● The 1-to-N mapping between Employee-Department and
Employee-Dependent is depicted in the figure below.
After Step 4.
Step 5:

● Now we need to figure out the entities from ER diagram for


which there exists an M-to-N relationship.
● Create a new relation(table) S.
● The primary keys of relations(tables) between which M-to-N
relationship exists, are added to the new relation S created,
that acts as a foreign key.
● Then we,add any simple attributes of the M-to-N relationship
to S.
● For the given ER-Diagram there exists M-to-N relationship
between Employee and Project entity.
● The new table Works_On is created for mapping the
relationship between Employee and Project relation(table).
After Step 5;
Step 6:

● Now identify the relations(tables) that contain multi-valued


attributes.
● Then we need to create a new relation S
● In the new relation S we add as foreign keys the primary keys
of the corresponding relation.
● Then we add the multi-valued attribute to S; the combination
of all attributes in S forms the primary key.
● For the given ER-Diagram there exists a multi-valued attribute
(Locations) in Department relation(table).
● So, we create a new relation called Dept_Locations. To this
new relation we add the primary key of the Department Table
that is D_Number and the multi-valued attribute Locations.
After step 6.

We have successfully mapped the ER-Diagram of the Company Database


to its Relational Schema.

Just follow these 6 steps to successfully map any ER-Diagram to its


Relational Schema.

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