CS3200 – Database Design･ ･ ･ Fall 2020･ ･ ･ Derbinsky

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

Lecture 8

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Outline
1. Context
– Design & Implementation Process
2. Goals of Conceptual Design
3. Entity-Relationship (ER) Model
4. One ER Diagrammatic Notation
5. Requirements Elicitation
6. Approaches to Conceptual Design

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Database Design and Implementation Process

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Goal of Conceptual Design

Description of data requirements that is…

Comprehensive
• Entity types, relationships, and constraints
• Sanity check of data & functional requirements
• Reference for [unit/integration] testing/analysis

Concise/High-level
• Easy to understand technically
• Easy to communicate with non-technical users
• Facilitates focus on data (vs. storage/implementation details)

Algorithmically Transformable
• Improves application development efficiency, reduces errors

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Entity-Relationship (ER) Model

Entity
• Thing in the real world

Attribute
• Property of an entity
• Most of what we store in the database

Relationship
• Association between sets of entities
• Possibly with attribute(s)

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ER Diagrams
• Graphical depiction
of an ER model
• Many notations, this
class…
All cars have a year, age, make, model,
registration (unique), vehicle number
(vin; unique), some number of colors…

Specialization/Generalization

Suggestion: https://www.diagrams.net

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Entity Sets
Set of entities that have Make Year Model
the same attributes

All cars have a year, CAR

make, and model.

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Composite Attributes
Can be subdivided into Make Year Model
smaller subparts

All cars have a year, CAR

make, model, and
registration. Registration

State Number

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Multivalued Attributes
Can take some number Make Year Model
of values.

All cars have a year, Color CAR

make, model,
registration, and some Registration
number of colors.
State Number

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Key Attributes
The value uniquely Make Year Model
identifies each entity

All cars have a year, Color CAR VIN

make, model,
registration (unique), Registration
vehicle number (vin;
unique), some number State Number
of colors.

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Potential Pitfall
• In relational schema, underlining multiple
attributes indicates that for all rows, the
combination is unique (primary)

• In ERDs, underlining multiple attributes

indicates that each individually can
uniquely identify an entity (candidates)

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Note: Delay Artificial Identifiers

• You will commonly see real database
schemas using internal, unique identifiers
– In Chinook: ArtistId, AlbumId, TrackId, …

• This is a reasonable design choice for many

tables/databases

• HOWEVER, we typically leave this to logical

design (since it can detract from ease of
communication during conceptual)

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Derived Attributes
Age

The value can be Make Year Model

computed

All cars have a year, Color CAR VIN

age, make, model,

registration (unique), Registration
vehicle number (vin;
unique), some number State Number
of colors.

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Note: Exercises
• As we learn notation, we’ll build up a
relatively large ERD

• It will start incorrect, but we’ll then revise

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Exercise
Draw an ERD for the following description:

Each department has a unique name, a

unique number, and a particular employee
who manages the department. We keep
track of the start date when that employee
began managing the department. A
department may have several locations.

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Answer

Name Number

Location DEPARTMENT Manager

Manager_
Start_Date

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Exercise
Draw an ERD for the following description:

A department controls a number of projects,

each of which has a unique name, a unique
number, and a single location.

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Answer

Name Number

Location PROJECT

Controlling_
Department

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Exercise
Draw an ERD for the following description:

We store each employee’s name (first, last, MI),

Social Security number (SSN), street address, salary,
sex (gender), and birth date. An employee is
assigned to one department, but may work on
several projects, which are not necessarily controlled
by the same department. We keep track of the
current number of hours per week that an employee
works on each project. We also keep track of the
direct supervisor of each employee (who is another
employee).
Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Answer
Salary

SSN Sex

Department Birthdate

EMPLOYEE
Supervisor Address

FName Name Works_On Project

MI LName Hours

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Exercise
Draw an ERD for the following description:

We want to keep track of the dependents of

each employee for insurance purposes. We
keep each dependent’s first name, sex, birth
date, and relationship to the employee.

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Answer

Sex

Employee

DEPENDENT DBirthdate

Relationship

DName

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Relationships
Associates one or more sets of entities
– One = recursive (role is important)

STUDENT DEPT

CHAIR_F

All departments have a faculty

member who serves as the chair. A
faculty member can only chair one FACULTY
department.

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Relationships
Associates one or more sets of entities
– One = recursive (role is important)
MAJOR_D

STUDENT DEPT

CHAIR_F

All students must have a department

in which they major.
FACULTY

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Relationships
Associates one or more sets of entities
– One = recursive (role is important)
MAJOR_D

STUDENT DEPT

MINOR_D

CHAIR_F

Students may have any number of

departments in which they minor.
FACULTY

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Relationships
Associates one or more sets of entities
– One = recursive (role is important)
MAJOR_D

STUDENT DEPT

MINOR_D
Tutor Tutee

TUTORS CHAIR_F

Students can tutor other student(s).

FACULTY

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Cardinality Ratios
Constrains the (maximum) number of entities that
can participate in each role of the relationship

MAJOR_D

STUDENT DEPT

MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee

TUTORS CHAIR_F

All departments have a faculty 1

member who serves as the chair. A
faculty member can only chair one FACULTY
department.

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Cardinality Ratios
Constrains the (maximum) number of entities that
can participate in each role of the relationship
N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT

MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee

TUTORS CHAIR_F

All students must have a department 1

in which they major.
FACULTY

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Cardinality Ratios
Constrains the (maximum) number of entities that
can participate in each role of the relationship
N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee

TUTORS CHAIR_F

Students may have any number of 1

departments in which they minor.
FACULTY

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Cardinality Ratios
Constrains the (maximum) number of entities that
can participate in each role of the relationship
N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS CHAIR_F

Students can tutor other student(s). 1

FACULTY

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Multi-Valued Attributes vs Entity

• Both will have similar tabular structures

• Only entities can be uniquely identified,

and thus have relationships with other
entities

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Structural Constraints
If an entity does not exist unless it appears with an entity in a
relationship, the participation is total (existence dependency).
Else, partial. (Another view: minimum = {0, 1})

N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS CHAIR_F

All departments have a faculty 1

member who serves as the chair. A
faculty member can only chair one FACULTY
department.

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Structural Constraints
If an entity does not exist unless it appears with an entity in a
relationship, the participation is total (existence dependency).
Else, partial. (Another view: minimum = {0, 1})

N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS CHAIR_F

All students must have a department 1

in which they major.
FACULTY

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Attributes of Relationships
1->1, can go to either entity
1->N, can go to (1) entity
N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS Office CHAIR_F

1
Each department chair has an office.
FACULTY

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Attributes of Relationships
1->1, can go to either entity
1->N, can go to (1) entity
Done

N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS Office CHAIR_F

1
It is important to know whether or
not a student has completed their FACULTY
major.

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Attributes of Relationships
1->1, can go to either entity
1->N, can go to (1) entity
Done

N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS Done Office CHAIR_F

1
It is important to know whether or
not a student has completed each of FACULTY
their minor(s).

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Attributes of Relationships
1->1, can go to either entity
1->N, can go to (1) entity
Done

N MAJOR_D 1
STUDENT DEPT
N M
MINOR_D
1
Tutor Tutee
N M
TUTORS Done Office CHAIR_F

Subject
1
It is important to know the subject(s)
in which a tutee is being tutored by FACULTY
each tutor.

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Weak Entities
Entity types that do not have key attributes
of their own are weak; instead identified by
relation to specific entity of another type
(the identifying type)
Prof

1 COURSE N
COURSE SEC
SECTION

NAME Number Book

DEPT NUM

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Revise!
We store each employee’s
name (first, last, MI), Social
Security number (SSN), street
address, salary, sex (gender),
and birth date. An employee is Salary)

assigned to one department, SSN) Sex)

but may work on several

projects, which are not Department) Birthdate)

necessarily controlled by the EMPLOYEE)

same department. We keep Supervisor) Address)

track of the current number of

hours per week that an FName) Name) Works_On) Project)

employee works on each

project. We also keep track MI) LName) Hours)

of the direct supervisor of

each employee (who is
another employee).

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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 CS3200 – Database Design･ ･ ･ Fall 2020･ ･ ･ Derbinsky

Answer
Salary

SSN Sex Department

1
Supervisor Birthdate
Supervision

EMPLOYEE
Address
Supervisee
N
FName Name Works_On Project

MI LName Hours

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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 CS3200 – Database Design･ ･ ･ Fall 2020･ ･ ･ Derbinsky

Revise!
Salary)

We want to keep track 1)

SSN) Sex) Department)

of the dependents of Supervisor)

Supervision)
Birthdate)

EMPLOYEE)

each employee for N)

Supervisee)
Address)

insurance purposes. We FName) Name) Works_On) Project)

keep each dependent’s MI) LName) Hours)

first name, sex, birth

date, and relationship to Sex(

the employee.
Employee(

DEPENDENT( DBirthdate(

Rela7onship(

DName(

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Answer
Salary

SSN Sex Department

1
Supervisor
Birthdate
Supervision

EMPLOYEE
Address
Supervisee
1
N

FName Name Works_On Project

Sex
MI LName Hours

DEPENDENT N
DEPENDENT DBirthdate
_OF

Relationship

DName

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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 CS3200 – Database Design･ ･ ･ Fall 2020･ ･ ･ Derbinsky

Revise!
A department controls Name' Number'

a number of projects, Loca%on' PROJECT'

each of which has a
unique name, a unique Controlling_'
Department'

number, and a single

location. Name' Number'

Loca%on' DEPARTMENT' Manager'

Manager_'
Start_Date'

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Answer
Name Number

Location PROJECT

Name Number
N

1
CONTROLS DEPARTMENT Manager

Manager_
Location
Start_Date

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Revise!
Name' Number'

Each department has a …

particular employee who Loca%on' PROJECT'

manages the department. N' Name' Number'

1'
CONTROLS' DEPARTMENT' Manager'

An employee is assigned
to one department, but Loca%on'
Manager_'

may work on several

Start_Date'

projects, which are not Salary)

necessarily controlled by
SSN) Sex) Department)

1)
Supervisor)

the same department. We

Birthdate)

Supervision)
EMPLOYEE)
Address)
Supervisee)

keep track of the current

1)
N)

FName) Name) Works_On) Project)

number of hours per MI) LName) Hours)

Sex)

week that an employee DEPENDENT N)

DEPENDENT) DBirthdate)

works on each project.

_OF)

RelaIonship)

DName)

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Answer
Supervisor Supervisee
1 N
Hours Supervision

M
WORKS_ON EMPLOYEE SSN

1 N
Name

Start
_Date
N

Location PROJECT Manages

Number
1

1 1
CONTROLS DEPARTMENT Works_For

Name Number
Location

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All Together Now!

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Specialization/Generalization
Only a subset of entities within a type have
certain attributes or participate in certain
relationships
ID

STUDENT

GRAD_STUDENT Degrees

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Multiple Subtypes: Disjointedness

(o)verlap: may be more than one
(d)isjoint: entities may only be one subtype
SSN

A person can be an
employee, an
PERSON
alumnus, and/or a
student
o

U
U

U
EMPLOYEE ALUMNUS STUDENT

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Multiple Subtypes: Disjointedness

(o)verlap: may be more than one
(d)isjoint: entities may only be one subtype
SSN

A person can be
either an employee,
PERSON
an alumnus, or a
student
d

U
U

U
EMPLOYEE ALUMNUS STUDENT

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Multiple Subtypes: Completeness

Similar to relationships; can be total (must
belong to subtypes) or partial (can belong)
SSN

A person must be
exactly one: an
PERSON
employee, an
alumnus, or a student
d

U
U

U
EMPLOYEE ALUMNUS STUDENT

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Exercise
• The database keeps track of three types of persons: employees, alumni, and students. A
person can belong to one, two, or all three of these types. Each person has a name, SSN,
sex, address, and birth date.

• Every employee has a salary, and there are three types of employees: faculty, staff, and
student assistants. Each employee belongs to exactly one of these types. For each
alumnus, a record of the degree or degrees that they earned at the university is kept,
including the name of the degree, the year granted, and the major department. Each
student has a major department.

• Each faculty has a rank, whereas each staff member has a staff position. Student
assistants are classified further as either research assistants or teaching assistants, and
the percent of time that they work is recorded in the database. Research assistants have
their research project stored, whereas teaching assistants have the current course they
work on.

• Students are further classified as either graduate or undergraduate, with the specific
attributes degree program (M.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., and so on) for graduate students and
class (freshman, sophomore, and so on) for undergraduates.

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Answer

Entity-Relationship (ER) Diagrams

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Alternative Notation (1)

Figure A. 1

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Alternative Notation (2)

Figure A. 1

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Requirements Elicitation
The conceptual model should inform requirements elicitation questions:

• What are the main kinds of objects to be stored in the database

(entity types)?

• For each object, what information should be stored (attributes,

relationships)? What information distinguishes one object of a type
from another (keys, weak entities)? Are there different
kinds/categories of objects (specialization/generalization)?

• For each piece of information, what characterizes a valid value

(composite/multi-valued, structural, etc.)?

• For related objects x and y, can x exist without y (participation)?

How many x’s can a y have, and vice-versa (cardinality)?

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Approaches to Conceptual Design

Centralized
– Single authority responsible for merging
requirements into schema
– Reasonable for smaller applications

View Integration
– Each stakeholder implements local view
– Individual views integrated into global schema
– Individual views can be reconstructed as external
schemas after integration
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View Integration (1)

1. Identify correspondences and conflicts
– Conflicts: names, types, domain, constraints
2. Modify views to conform
3. Merge
4. Restructure

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View Integration (2)

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Summary
• The goal of conceptual design is to develop a set
of data requirements that are comprehensive,
clear & easy to understand, and algorithmically
transformable

• ER Diagrams (ERDs) are one such design model

that visually represent the entities, attributes,
and relationships of a system

• Requirements elicitation and conceptual design is

an iterative process that is a necessary
prerequisite to implementing a database

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