Data Modeling and Data Models

Data modeling, the first stage in designing a database, is defined in the database
principles (Coronel, C., Morris, S., & Rob, P. (2019)) as the act of establishing a specific
data model for a given problem domain. A data model is a relatively basic, generally
graphical representation of a more complex real-world data structure. A model, in
general, is an abstraction of a more complex real-world item or event. Furthermore, as
stated by Guru99 (2020), this is a conceptual representation of data items, connections
between data objects, and rules. Data modeling helps with the visual depiction of data
as well as the application of business standards, regulatory compliance, and
government policies to the data. It guarantees uniformity in naming conventions, default
values, semantics, and security while also assuring data quality.
As a result, the data model highlights what data is required and how it should be
arranged, and it is similar to an architect's building plan in that it assists in the
construction of a conceptual model and the establishment of relationships between data
elements.

Data Model Basic Building Blocks

Entities, characteristics, relationships, and constraints are the fundamental
components of every data model. An entity in each table contains all of the information
about an object, person, or thing. As an example, consider the client and the product.
An attribute is Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The
fields in the student table consist of id, name, address, gender, and course.
A relationship is an association that links the primary key field in one table to a
field that contains the same information in another table. The three types of
relationships are one to one (1:1 or 1..1) relationship, one to many (1:M or 1..*)
relationship and many to many (M:N or *..*) relationship. The illustrations of mapping
cardinalities connections are shown below. Cardinality is defined as the number of
entities in one entity set that may be connected with the number of entities in the other
set via a relationship set (tutorialpoints.com (2020)) website.
One-to-one. One entity from entity set A can be associated with at most one
entity from entity set B and vice versa.
One-to-many. One entity from entity set A can be associated with more than one
entity of entity set B however an entity from entity set B, can be associated with at most
one entity.
Many-to-many. One entity from A can be associated with more than one entity
from B and vice versa.
 A constraint is a restriction imposed on data. Constraints are vital since they help
to ensure the data's integrity. For example; a student’s GPA must be between 1.00 and
5.00,
Business Rules
When a database designer goes about selecting or determining the entities,
attributes, and relationships that will be used to build a data model, they might start by
gaining a thorough understanding of what types of data exist in an organization. From a
database point of view, the collection of data becomes meaningful only when it reflects
properly defined business rules. A business rule is a brief, precise, and unambiguous
description of a policy, procedure, or principle within a specific organization.
Business rules derived from a detailed description of an organization’s operations
help to create and enforce actions within that organization’s environment. Any time you
see relationship statements such as "an agent can serve many customers, and each
customer can be served by only one agent," business rules are at work. To be effective,
business rules must be easy to understand and widely disseminated to ensure that
every person in the organization shares a common interpretation of the rules. Examples
of Business Rules are as follows:

✓ A customer may generate many invoices.

✓ An invoice is generated by only one customer.

✓ A training session cannot be scheduled for fewer than 10 employees or for more than
30 employees.

Database Design
We are now done discussing the data models. Let us now proceed to the next
topic, which is designing a good database.
I know that when you hear the word "design," there are a lot of ideas coming
from your mind. Maybe it is a sort of drawing or sketching. But in terms of database
design, it is not literally drawing or sketching.
As stated by Guru99 (2020), Database Design is a collection of processes that
facilitate the designing, development, implementation, and maintenance of enterprise
data management systems. A properly designed database is easy to maintain,
improves data consistency, and is cost effective in terms of disk storage space. The
database designer decides how the data elements correlate and what data must be
stored.

Design Method
To design a database for a set of requirements, complete the following steps:
1. Identify the entities (objects) involved, and name the entities.
2. Identify the unique identifiers for the entities you identified.
3. Identify the attributes for all the entities. These attributes become the columns in the
tables. It is possible for two or more entities to contain the same attributes.
4. Identify the functional dependencies that exist among attributes.
5. Use the functional dependencies to identify the tables by placing each attribute with
the attribute or minimum combination of attributes on which it is functionally dependent.
6. Identify any relationships between tables

III. Summary
A data model must be conceptually simple without risking the semantic completeness of
the database. A data model must be as accurate as feasible in representing the real
world. (Semantics deals with dynamic data behavior, whereas data representation is
engaged with the static element of a real-world event.) In other words, the model should
be precise and complete—all necessary data should be included and accurately
represented.
Data modeling. The process of creating a specific data model for a determined problem
domain.
Data model. A representation, usually graphic, of a complex "real-world" data structure.
Attribute is a property or characteristic of an entity type that is of interest to the
organization, Thus, an attribute has a noun name.
Database designer. Database designers design, test and implement databases applying
knowledge of database management systems, guarding the protection and security of
the database(www.123test.com) website.
Constraint. A rule that cannot be violated by database users.
Entity-relationship diagram (ER-Diagram or ERD). A graphical representation of an
entity-relationship model.

IV. References
Coronel, C., Morris, S., (2019). Database principles: Fundamentals of design,
implementation and management (13th ed.). Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.
Elmasri, R., & Navathe, S. B., (2011). Fundamentals of database systems (6th ed.).
Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Addison-Wesley.
ONLINE REFERENCES
Guru99 (2019). Difference between information and data.
https://www.guru99.com/difference-information-data.html
Guru99 (2020). What is data modeling? conceptual, logical, & physical data models.
https://opentextbc.ca/dbdesign01/chapter/chapter-1-before-the-advent-of-database-
systems/
123test.com (2021). Profession database designer.
https://www.123test.com/professions/profession-database-designer/