Enhanced Entity-

Relationship Modeling
Enhanced-ER (EER) Model
Concepts
 Includes all modeling concepts of basic ER
 Additional concepts: subclasses/superclasses,
specialization/generalization, categories,
attribute inheritance
 The resulting model is called the enhanced-ER
or Extended ER (E2R or EER) model
 It is used to model applications more completely
and accurately if needed
 It includes some object-oriented concepts, such
as inheritance
Subclasses and Superclasses
 An entity type may have additional meaningful
subgroupings of its entities
 Example: EMPLOYEE may be further grouped into
SECRETARY, ENGINEER, MANAGER, TECHNICIAN,
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE,…
• Each of these groupings is a subset of EMPLOYEE entities
• Each is called a subclass of EMPLOYEE
• EMPLOYEE is the superclass for each of these subclasses
 These are called superclass/subclass relationships.
 Example: EMPLOYEE/SECRETARY,
EMPLOYEE/TECHNICIAN
Subclasses and Superclasses
 These are also called IS-A relationships (SECRETARY IS-A
EMPLOYEE, TECHNICIAN IS-A EMPLOYEE, …).
 Note: An entity that is member of a subclass represents the same
real-world entity as some member of the superclass
• The Subclass member is the same entity in a distinct specific
role
• An entity cannot exist in the database merely by being a
member of a subclass; it must also be a member of the
superclass
• A member of the superclass can be optionally included as a
member of any number of its subclasses
 Example: A salaried employee who is also an engineer belongs to
the two subclasses ENGINEER and SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
• It is not necessary that every entity in a superclass be a
member of some subclass
Attribute Inheritance in Superclass /
Subclass Relationships
 An entity that is member of a subclass inherits
all attributes of the entity as a member of the
superclass
 It also inherits all relationships
Specialization
 Is the process of defining a set of subclasses of a superclass
 The set of subclasses is based upon some distinguishing
characteristics of the entities in the superclass
 Example: {SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN} is a
specialization of EMPLOYEE based upon job type.
• May have several specializations of the same superclass
 Example: Another specialization of EMPLOYEE based in method
of pay is {SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE}.
• Superclass/subclass relationships and specialization can be
diagrammatically represented in EER diagrams
• Attributes of a subclass are called specific attributes. For
example, TypingSpeed of SECRETARY
• The subclass can participate in specific relationship types.
For example, BELONGS_TO of HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
Example of a Specialization
Generalization
 The reverse of the specialization process
 Several classes with common features are generalized
into a superclass; original classes become its subclasses
 Example: CAR, TRUCK generalized into VEHICLE; both
CAR, TRUCK become subclasses of the superclass
VEHICLE.
• We can view {CAR, TRUCK} as a specialization of
VEHICLE
• Alternatively, we can view VEHICLE as a generalization of
CAR and TRUCK
Generalization and Specialization
 Diagrammatic notation sometimes used to distinguish between
generalization and specialization
• Arrow pointing to the generalized superclass represents a
generalization
• Arrows pointing to the specialized subclasses represent a
specialization
• We do not use this notation because it is often subjective as
to which process is more appropriate for a particular situation
• We advocate not drawing any arrows in these situations
 Data Modeling with Specialization and Generalization
• A superclass or subclass represents a set of entities
• Shown in rectangles in EER diagrams (as are entity types)
• Sometimes, all entity sets are simply called classes, whether
they are entity types, superclasses, or subclasses
Constraints on Specialization
and Generalization
 If we can determine exactly those entities that will become members of
each subclass by a condition, the subclasses are called predicate-defined
(or condition-defined) subclasses
• Condition is a constraint that determines subclass members
• Display a predicate-defined subclass by writing the predicate condition
next to the line attaching the subclass to its superclass
 If all subclasses in a specialization have membership condition on same
attribute of the superclass, specialization is called an attribute defined-
specialization
• Attribute is called the defining attribute of the specialization
• Example: JobType is the defining attribute of the specialization
{SECRETARY, TECHNICIAN, ENGINEER} of EMPLOYEE
 If no condition determines membership, the subclass is called user-defined
• Membership in a subclass is determined by the database users by
applying an operation to add an entity to the subclass
• Membership in the subclass is specified individually for each entity in the
superclass by the user
Constraints on Specialization
and Generalization
 Two other conditions apply to a specialization/generalization:
 Disjointness Constraint:
• Specifies that the subclasses of the specialization must be disjointed
(an entity can be a member of at most one of the subclasses of the
specialization)
• Specified by d in EER diagram
• If not disjointed, overlap; that is the same entity may be a member of
more than one subclass of the specialization
• Specified by o in EER diagram
 Completeness Constraint:
• Total specifies that every entity in the superclass must be a member of
some subclass in the specialization/ generalization
• Shown in EER diagrams by a double line
• Partial allows an entity not to belong to any of the subclasses
• Shown in EER diagrams by a single line
Constraints on Specialization
and Generalization
 Hence, we have four types of specialization/generalization:
• Disjoint, total
• Disjoint, partial
• Overlapping, total
• Overlapping, partial
 Note: Generalization usually is total because the superclass is
derived from the subclasses.
Example of disjoint partial
Specialization
 Specialization / Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices and Shared Subclasses

 A subclass may itself have further subclasses specified on it

 Forms a hierarchy or a lattice
 Hierarchy has a constraint that every subclass has only one superclass
(called single inheritance)
 In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of more than one superclass (called
multiple inheritance)
 In a lattice or hierarchy, a subclass inherits attributes not only of its direct
superclass, but also of all its predecessor superclasses
 A subclass with more than one superclass is called a shared subclass
 Can have specialization hierarchies or lattices, or generalization hierarchies
or lattices
 In specialization, start with an entity type and then define subclasses of the
entity type by successive specialization (top down conceptual refinement
process)
 In generalization, start with many entity types and generalize those that
have common properties (bottom up conceptual synthesis process)
 In practice, the combination of two processes is employed
Specialization / Generalization
Lattice Example (UNIVERSITY)
Categories (UNION TYPES)
 All of the superclass/subclass relationships we have seen thus far have a
single superclass
 A shared subclass is subclass in more than one distinct
superclass/subclass relationships, where each relationships has a single
superclass (multiple inheritance)
 In some cases, need to model a single superclass/subclass relationship
with more than one superclass
 Superclasses represent different entity types
 Such a subclass is called a category or UNION TYPE
 Example: Database for vehicle registration, vehicle owner can be a
person, a bank (holding a lien on a vehicle) or a company.
• Category (subclass) OWNER is a subset of the union of the three superclasses
COMPANY, BANK, and PERSON
• A category member must exist in at least one of its superclasses
 Note: The difference from shared subclass, which is subset of the
intersection of its superclasses (shared subclass member must exist in
all of its superclasses).
Example of categories
(UNION TYPES)
Formal Definitions of EER Model
 Class C: A set of entities; could be entity type, subclass,
superclass, category.
 Subclass S: A class whose entities must always be subset of the
entities in another class, called the superclass C of the
superclass/subclass (or IS-A) relationship S/C:
S⊆C
 Specialization Z: Z = {S1, S2,…, Sn} a set of subclasses with same
superclass G; hence, G/Si a superclass relationship for i = 1, …., n.
• G is called a generalization of the subclasses {S1, S2,…, Sn}
• Z is total if we always have:
S1 ∪ S2 ∪ … ∪ Sn = G;
Otherwise, Z is partial.
• Z is disjoint if we always have:
Si ∩ S2 empty-set for i ≠ j;
Otherwise, Z is overlapping.
Formal Definitions of EER Model
 Subclass S of C is predicate defined if predicate p on attributes of C is used
to specify membership in S; that is, S = C[p], where C[p] is the set of entities
in C that satisfy p
 A subclass not defined by a predicate is called user-defined
 Attribute-defined specialization: if a predicate A = ci (where A is an attribute
of G and ci is a constant value from the domain of A) is used to specify
membership in each subclass Si in Z
 Note: If ci ≠ cj for i ≠ j, and A is single-valued, then the attribute-defined
specialization will be disjoint.
 Category or UNION type T
• A class that is a subset of the union of n defining superclasses
D1, D2,…Dn, n>1:
T ⊆ (D1 ∪ D2 ∪ … ∪ Dn)
A predicate pi on the attributes of T.
• If a predicate pi on the attributes of Di can specify entities of Di that are members of T.
• If a predicate is specified on every Di: T = (D1[p1] ∪ D2[p2] ∪… ∪ Dn[pn]
• Note: The definition of relationship type should have 'entity type' replaced with 'class'.
UML Example for Displaying
Specialization / Generalization
 Alternative Diagrammatic
Notations
Symbols for entity type / class, Displaying attributes
attribute and relationship

Notations for displaying Various (min, Displaying

specialization / generalization max) notations cardinality ratios