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Tutorial
Topic: Data Analysis for Estate Agent Case Study

Consider the following case study. Analyse the data and produce Conceptual Model using the Entity
Relational Model (Chen notation).
An estate agent consists of different branches. The staff in each branch collects information about
properties for rent. Usually one branch is responsible for a number of properties.
Information such as address, rent, and owner should be kept in the DB. The branch usually assigns
one individual staff member as the contact person for a particular property. He/she arranges viewing
the property with potential tenant.
A prospective tenant refers to a particular branch office where he/she may ask to view various
properties. Before a tenant is allowed to view any property, he/she has to register with the agency. A
tenant is assigned a unique number across all branch offices. The agency also assigns a unique
number for each property which is a unique number across all branch offices. The kind of property a
prospective tenant is interested in (e.g. flat, house, maximum rent, etc.) is also recorded The tenant
could view one or more properties several times until he/she makes a decision.
As a policy of the Estate Agency Company, any branch must have on-going business by limiting the
minimum number of rented and available properties (i.e. occupied and ready to rent properties). The
minimum rented properties should not be less than 100 and the available unoccupied properties should
not be less than 40. Any branch could face a closure if it goes below the above figures as it is not
making any profit.

Extension 1
If a tenant is interested in renting a property after viewing it, a rental agreement must be signed which
holds the tenant to that property. The same tenant could rent other properties if he/she wishes
Extension 2
The Branch keeps historical information about all rental agreements.
Extension 3
The agency is interested in keeping track of all adverts that have been published for a specific
property. Usually the adverts appear in different newspapers once or more than once, up to 5
consecutive days.
Extension 4
The agency introduces extra benefit to their staff based on the age and number of their dependants.
The agency also would like to keep information about the next of kin for each staff member.
Extension 5
The agency starts a new policy to charge different fees depending on whether the owner is a private or
a business owner.
Extension 6
A staff member could be appointed as branch manager or a staff supervisor but not both. Each branch
must have only one manager and a manager can only manage one branch.