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ER Model Design

The document outlines the steps for creating an Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram, starting with identifying key entities and their attributes. It emphasizes the importance of defining relationships between entities, including their types and cardinality. Finally, it suggests refining the diagram using diagramming tools and best practices to ensure clarity and eliminate redundancy.

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Putta Swamy
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28 views2 pages

ER Model Design

The document outlines the steps for creating an Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram, starting with identifying key entities and their attributes. It emphasizes the importance of defining relationships between entities, including their types and cardinality. Finally, it suggests refining the diagram using diagramming tools and best practices to ensure clarity and eliminate redundancy.

Uploaded by

Putta Swamy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

Identify Entities:
 What are the key objects or concepts? Start by identifying all the
nouns related to your system or database.
 Example: In a library database, entities might be Book, Author, Member,
and Loan.
 Represent Entities: Draw rectangles for each entity and label them
with the entity name.
 Tip: Each entity should be unique and represented only once in the
diagram.
2. Define Attributes:
 What data describes each entity? Determine the characteristics or
properties of each entity.
 Example: For Book, attributes might be Title, ISBN, Publication Year,
and Genre. For Member, they could be MemberID, Name, Address, and Phone
Number.

 Represent Attributes: Represent each attribute as an oval connected


to its corresponding entity with a solid line.
 Tip: Ensure all attributes are relevant and provide meaningful data.
3. Determine Relationships:
 How do the entities interact? Identify how entities are connected or
related to each other.
 Example: A Book entity has a relationship to an Author (i.e. a book is
written by an author), a Loan entity has a relationship to
both Book and Member.
 Relationship Type: Relationships can be one-to-one (1:1), one-to-
many (1:N), or many-to-many (N:M).
 Represent Relationships: Draw lines between related entities and add
a diamond symbol to denote the relationship.
 Cardinality: Indicate the relationship type (1:1, 1:N, N:M) on the line
connecting the entities.
o Example: "One Author writes many Books" (1:N).
 Constraints: Add any data integrity rules or constraints.
4. Refine and Draw the Diagram:
 Review and iterate: Go through your diagram to make sure all entities,
attributes and relationships are correctly identified.
 Use Diagramming Tools: Use software like Lucidchart, draw.io, or
others to easily visualize and refine the diagram.
 Follow best practices: Keep the diagram clear and easy to
understand.
 Check for Redundancy: Remove any redundant entities or
relationships.
Example ER Diagram Components:
 Entities: Represented as rectangles (e.g., Customer, Product, Order).
 Attributes: Represented as ovals or within the rectangles, connected to
the entities (e.g., CustomerID, Product Name, OrderID).
 Relationships: Represented as lines connecting entities, with diamond
shapes and cardinality (e.g., "Customer places many Orders").

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