EER Diagram

Prepared BY :
Mukhtar Qureshi
Subclasses, Superclasses, Inheritance

 • Entity types represent both kinds of entities and sets of entities of

that kind that exist in the database (e.g. entity type EMPLOYEE)
 • Often an entity type has different subgroups of its entities that
need to be represented explicitly in the database because of their
significance (e.g. SECRETARY, ENGINNER, MANAGER, TECHNICIAN
…)
 • The set of entities in each of these subgroups is a subset of the
EMPLOYEE entity set (every entity that is a member of one of these
subgroups is also an EMPLOYEE entity)
 • Each of these subgroups is called a subclass of the EMPLOYEE
entity type
 • The EMPLOYEE entity type is called the superclass of each of these
subclasses
 • The relationship between a superclass and any one of its
subclasses is called a superclass/subclass or class/subclass or IS-A
(IS-AN) relationship (e.g. EMPLOYEE/SECRETARY
EMPLOYEE/MANAGER)
 Why we need EER modeling?
4  ER modeling concepts discussed Chapter 3 are sufficient for
representing many database schemas for "traditional" database
applications,
 Design more accurate database schemas that reflect the data
properties and constraints more precisely.
 Databases for engineering design
 Manufacturing
 Telecommunications
 Complex software systems
 Geographic Information Systems (GIs)
 More complex requirements
 Led to the development of additional semantic data modeling
concepts
Sir Syed Sarmad
Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
5 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 with additional semantics
It includes some object-oriented concepts, such
as inheritance
Sir Syed Sarmad
Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
6 Subclasses and Superclasses (1)
 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

Sir Syed Sarmad

Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
 Subclasses and Superclasses (2)
7
 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
Database Management Systems
Sir Syed Sarmad
Ali Shah
8 Example

Sir Syed Sarmad

Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
9

Attribute Inheritance in Superclass /

Subclass Relationships

An entity that is member of a

subclass inherits all attributes of the
superclass
It also inherits all relationships of the
superclass
Sir Syed Sarmad
Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
Subclasses and Superclasses
 An entity type may have subclasses of its entities
 Example: EMPLOYEE may be grouped into:
SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN, …
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s Job
MANAGER
EMPLOYEEs who are managers
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s method of pay
 EMPLOYEE is the superclass for each of these
subclasses
Slide 10
Subclasses and Superclasses (2)

 Also called IS-A relationships

SECRETARY IS-A EMPLOYEE, TECHNICIAN IS-A
EMPLOYEE, ….

 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
Slide 11
Generalization and Specialization

The process of refining one entity types into

subclass types is called specialization.
A top-down process
The process identifying commonalities among
different entity types and define their superclass
type is called generalization.
A bottom-up process
In real world, a database modeling process is
typically mixed.
Slide 12
Condition-Defined Subclasses
 Specialization based on conditions of superclass
attributes.
Example: High-Pay-Male and High-Paid-Female
Drawing
EMPLOYEE

d
salary100000, Sex=M salary100000, Sex=F

High-Pay-Male High-Pay-Female
Slide 13
Discussions

d: means disjoint, each employee can belong to at

most one of the subclass.
 We do not require total participation: an employee may
not be in either class
 A special case of condition-defined specialization is
when the condition is based on the value of a single
attribute
This type specializations is called attribute-defined.

Slide 14
An Attribute-defined Specialization

 Doubled line suggests total participation: an

employee must be either a male or female.

EMPLOYEE

Sex
d
M F

Male-EMP Female-EMP
Slide 15
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
All relationships of the entity as a member of the
superclass
 Example:
SECRETARY inherit the attributes Name, SSN, …,
from EMPLOYEE
SECRETARY can have additional attributes
specific to secretaries (typing speed, …)
Slide 16
Additional attributes in subclasses

Slide 17
Overlapping Specialization
 In an overlapping specialization, indicated by an
circled o, an entity in the superclass can belong to
more than one subclasses.

DEPARTMENT

o
Has a location in DC Has a location in NY

Located-in-DC Located-in-NY
Slide 18
Further Discussions

 A specialization can have only one subclass

 Example: High-Pay-EMP

EMPLOYEE

salary100000


High-Pay-EMP
Slide 19
 Summary
Four types of specializations
Total (double-lined), disjoint (d)
Partial (single-lined), disjoint (d)
Total (double-lined), overlapping (o)
Partial (single-lined), overlapping (o)
A subclass may have its own (additional)
attributes
A superclass may have more than one
specialization.

Slide 20
Example of Overlapping Total
Specialization

Slide 21
Multiple Specializations

Slide 22
User-Defined
Specialization/Generalization

 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 by the user

 Example: A HANDICAPPED subclass of EMPLOYEE

Slide 23
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (1)

 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); this is basically
a tree structure
 In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of more than one
superclass (called multiple inheritance)

Slide 24
Shared Subclass “Engineering_Manager”

Slide 25
Categories (UNION TYPES)

 With specialization, all subclasses are of the same type

of superclasses.
SECTARY, MANAGER, and HOURLY_EMPLOYEE are all
EMPLOYEEs
 In some cases, we need to superclasses to be of
different entity types
 Such a subclass is called a category or UNION TYPE
A category member must exist in at least one of its
superclasses
Slide 26
Two categories (UNION types): OWNER,
REGISTERED_VEHICLE

Slide 27
28
EER diagram notation to represent
subclasses and specialization

Sir Syed Sarmad

Database Management Systems
Ali Shah
Summary

 Introduced the EER model concepts

Class/subclass relationships
Specialization and generalization
Inheritance
 These augment the basic ER model concepts
introduced in Chapter 3
 EER diagrams and alternative notations were presented

Slide 29