Chapter 3 The Enhanced ER Model (EER)

Chapter 3
The Enhanced ER
Model (EER)
Supertypes and Subtypes
• Subtype (subclass): A subgrouping of the
entities in an entity type that has attributes distinct
from those in other subgroupings
• Supertype (superclass): A generic entity type
that has a relationship with one or more subtypes
• Attribute Inheritance:
– Subtype entities inherit values of all attributes of
the supertype
– An instance of a subtype is also an instance of the
supertype
2
Supertypes and Subtypes
SECRETARY (subclass)
E1
EMPLOYEE (superclass) E4
.
.
.
ENGINER (subclass)
e1
e2
e3 e2
.
e4 .
.
.
.
. TEACHICIAN (subclass)
e3
.
.
.
3
Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation
a) EER
notation
4
Employee supertype with three subtypes
All employee subtypes

will have emp nbr, name,
address, and date-hired
Each employee subtype

will also have its own
attributes
5
Relationships and Subtypes
• Relationships at the supertype level
indicate that all subtypes will participate in
the relationship
• The instances of a subtype may
participate in a relationship unique to that
subtype. In this situation, the relationship
is shown at the subtype level
6
Supertype/subtype relationships in a hospital
Both
outpatients
and resident
patients are
cared for by
a responsible
physician
Only resident patients are

assigned to a bed
7
Generalization and Specialization
• Generalization: The process of

defining a more general entity type from a
set of more specialized entity types.
BOTTOM-UP
• Specialization: The process of defining
one or more subtypes of the supertype
and forming supertype/subtype
relationships. TOP-DOWN
8
Example of generalization
a) Three entity types: CAR, TRUCK, and MOTORCYCLE
All these types of vehicles have common attributes
9
Example of generalization (cont.)
b) Generalization to VEHICLE supertype
So we put
the shared
attributes in
a supertype
BOTTOM-UP
Note: no subtype for motorcycle, since it has no unique

attributes 10
Example of specialization
a) Entity type PART
Only applies to
manufactured parts
Applies only to purchased parts
11
Example of specialization (cont.)
b) Specialization to MANUFACTURED PART and PURCHASED PART
Created 2 TOP-DOWN
subtypes
Supplier
12
Example of specialization (cont.)
b) Specialization to MANUFACTURED PART and PURCHASED PART
Note: multivalued attribute was replaced by an

associative entity relationship to another entity
13
Constraints in Supertype/ Completeness
Constraint
• Completeness Constraints: Whether an

instance of a supertype must also be a
member of at least one subtype
– Total Specialization Rule: Yes (double line)
– Partial Specialization Rule: No (single line)
14
Examples of completeness constraints
a) Total specialization rule
A patient must be either

an outpatient or a
resident patient
15
Examples of completeness constraints (cont.)
b) Partial specialization rule
A vehicle
could be a
car, a
truck, or
neither
16
Constraints in Supertype/ Disjointness
constraint
• Disjointness Constraints: Whether an
instance of a supertype may simultaneously
be a member of two (or more) subtypes
– Disjoint Rule: An instance of the supertype can be
only ONE of the subtypes
– Overlap Rule: An instance of the supertype could
be more than one of the subtypes
17
Examples of disjointness constraints
a) Disjoint rule
A patient can either be outpatient

or resident, but not both
18
Examples of disjointness constraints (cont.)
b) Overlap rule
A part may be both

purchased and
manufactured
19
Constraints in Supertype/ Subtype
Discriminators
• Subtype Discriminator: An attribute of the
supertype whose values determine the target
subtype(s)
– Disjoint – a simple attribute with alternative values to
indicate the possible subtypes
– Overlapping – a composite attribute whose subparts
pertain to different subtypes. Each subpart contains a
boolean value to indicate whether or not the instance
belongs to the associated subtype
20
Introducing a subtype discriminator (disjoint rule)
A simple attribute with

different possible values
indicating the subtype
21
Subtype discriminator (overlap rule)
A composite
attribute with
sub-attributes
indicating “yes”
or “no” to
determine
whether it is of
each subtype
22
Example of supertype/subtype hierarchy
23

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Chapter 3

All employee subtypes

Each employee subtype

Only resident patients are

• Generalization: The process of

All these types of vehicles have common attributes

Note: no subtype for motorcycle, since it has no unique

a) Entity type PART

Applies only to purchased parts

b) Specialization to MANUFACTURED PART and PURCHASED PART

Note: multivalued attribute was replaced by an

• Completeness Constraints: Whether an

A patient must be either

A patient can either be outpatient

A part may be both

A simple attribute with

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