INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

• Steps in database design include the • Accountants may provide the greatest value by
following: taking responsibility for data modeling—the
– Planning process of defining a database to faithfully
– Requirements analysis represent all aspects of the organization,
– Design including interactions with the external
– Coding environment.
– Implementation – Occurs during both requirements analysis and design
– Operation and maintenance stage
– Two important tools to facilitate data modeling:
• Entity-relationship diagramming
• REA data model

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ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAMS ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAMS

• An entity-relationship (E-R) • An entity is anything about which the

organization wants to collect and store
diagram is a graphical technique for information.
portraying a database schema. – EXAMPLE: Your university collects and stores
information about students, courses, enrollment
– Shows the various entities being activity, etc.
modeled and the important relationships • In a relational database, separate tables would
among them. be created to store information about each
distinct entity.
• In an object-oriented database, separate classes
would be created for each distinct entity.

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 THE REA DATA MODEL THE REA DATA MODEL

• Three Basic Types of Entities • Three Basic Types of Entities

– The REA data model is so named because it – The REA data model is so named because it
classifies entities into three distinct classifies entities into three distinct
categories: categories:
• Resources that the organization acquires and • Resources that the organization acquires and
uses. • Resources are things that have uses.
economic value to the organization. • Events in which the organization engages
• These are the various business activities
about which management wants to
collect information for planning or
control purposes.

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THE REA DATA MODEL THE REA DATA MODEL

• Three Basic Types of Entities • Can you identify the resources in this diagram?.
– The REA data model is so named because it
classifies entities into three distinct Inventory Sales Employee
categories:
• Resources that the organization acquires and
uses.
• Events in which the organization engages Customer
• Agents participating in these events
• Includes people and organizations who
participate in events and about whom Cash Receive
information is desired for planning, Employee
Accounts Cash
control, and evaluation purposes.
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 STEP THREE: DETERMINE STEP THREE: DETERMINE
CARDINALITIES OF RELATIONSHIPS CARDINALITIES OF RELATIONSHIPS
• In other words, the choice of cardinalities • Now let’s go back to the REA diagram for
is not arbitrary. the revenue cycle and see if we can
• It reflects facts about the organization that complete the cardinalities.
are obtained during the requirements
definition stage of the database design
process.

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STEP THREE: DETERMINE

CARDINALITIES OF RELATIONSHIPS

Take Order Employee

Inventory
Customer

Sale

Employee

Receive
Cash Customer
Cash
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