Chapter 3 Conceptual Design

Chapter Three
Conceptual
Database Design
1
Fundamentals of Database Systems (INSY2031) - c 02/06/2024
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Chapter 3 - Objectives
 Database Development Methodology (DDLC)
 Phases of Database Design
 How to use Entity–Relationship (ER) modelling in database design.
 Basic concepts associated with ER model.
 Diagrammatic technique for displaying ER model using Unified

Modelling Language (UML).
 How to identify and resolve problems with ER models- connection traps.
 How to build an E-R model from a requirements specification.
2 Fundamentals of Database Systems (INSY2031) - c 02/06/2024

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Database Development methodology
Information System
Resources that enable collection, management,
control, and dissemination of information throughout
an organization.
Database is fundamental component of IS, and its
development/usage should be viewed from
perspective of the wider requirements of the
organization.

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Database System Development
Life Cycle
Database planning ( Mission Statement and
Objectives)
System definition ( Scope and Boundary definition)
Requirements collection and analysis
Database design ( Three Phases of Designs)
DBMS selection (optional)

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Database System Development
Lifecycle Cont’d…
 Application design ( Forms, Transactions, Reports…etc)
 Prototyping (optional) Requirements or Evolutionary
Prototype can be adopted
 Implementation (Physical Realization by DDL,DML,
C#,C,C++ ,Java, Delphi…)
 Data conversion and loading ( Legacy Data and
Application Conversion)
 Testing ( to Find Error/Defect in the software)
 Operational maintenance ( Monitoring and maintenance)

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Stages of the Database System Development Lifecycle Cont’d…

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Database Design Methodology
Three main phases for Database Design
Conceptual database design
Logical database design
Physical database design
Conceptual Design
Logical Design
Design
Physical Design

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Conceptual Database Design
The process of constructing a model of the data
used in an enterprise, independent of all
Technical/physical considerations.

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Logical Database Design
The process of constructing a model of the data
used in an enterprise based on a specific data model
(e.g. relational), but independent of a particular
DBMS and other physical considerations.

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Physical Database Design
The process of producing a description of the
implementation of the database on secondary
storage; it describes the base relations, file
organizations, and indexes design used to achieve
efficient access to the data, and any associated
integrity constraints and security measures.

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Conceptual Database Design
Conceptual design revolves around discovering and
analyzing organizational and user data requirements
The important activities are to identify
Entities
Attributes
Relationships
Constraints
And based on these components develop the E-R model
using
ER diagrams +Description about the Diagram

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Developing an E-R Diagram
 Designing conceptual model: To identify the entities, attributes,
relationships, and constraints on the data,
Different set of methods used during the analysis phase.
 Information gathering
 Interviewing end users individually and /or as a group
 Questionnaire survey
 Direct observation
 Examining different documents like forms, reports, receipts, invoices etc
 Analysis of requirements gathered (a guideline)
 Nouns -- prospective entities
 Adjectives--prospective attributes
 Verbs/verb phrases--prospective relationships
 Commanding Words--Constraints

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Developing an E-R Diagram Cont’d…
 Develop the basic E-R Model ( Using UML/Chen
Notation)
 Check for Redundant Relationships in the ER Diagram.
Relationships between entities indicate access from one
entity to another - this is often referred to as Navigation' of
the ER diagram
 Validate an E-R Model against requirement of the user.
 Present the basic E-R model for review.
 Collect Feedback from the users
Note: The process is repeated until the end users and
designers agree that the E-R diagram is a representation of
the organization’s activities and functions. (Iterative)

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ER diagram an Example

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Concepts of the ER Model
Entity types
Relationship types
Attributes
Structural Constraints

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Entity Type
Entity type
Group of objects with same properties, identified by
enterprise as having an independent existence.
Entity occurrence
Uniquely identifiable object of an entity type.

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Examples of Entity Types

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ER diagram of Staff and Branch entity
types

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Relationship Types
Relationship type
Set of meaningful associations among entity types.
Relationship occurrence
Uniquely identifiable association, which includes one
occurrence from each participating entity type.
Shown by a Semantic Net an Object Level Model that
shows the relationship instances.

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Semantic net of Has relationship type

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ER diagram of Branch Has Staff relationship

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Relationship Types
Degree of a Relationship
Number of participating entities in relationship.
Relationship of degree :
One is Unary
two is binary
three is ternary
four is quaternary
N is n-ary.

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Binary relationship called POwns

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Ternary relationship called Registers

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Quaternary relationship called Arranges

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Relationship Types
Recursive Relationship
Relationship type where same entity type participates
more than once in different roles.
Relationships may be given role names to indicate
purpose that each participating entity type plays in
a relationship.

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Recursive relationship called Supervises
with role names

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Entities associated through two distinct
relationships with role names

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Attributes
Attribute
Property of an entity or a relationship type.
Attribute Domain
Set of allowable values for one or more attributes.

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Attributes
 Simple Attribute
Attribute composed of a single component with an
independent existence.
 Represented by
 an Ellipse in Chen Notation
 A named field in UML
 Composite Attribute
Attribute composed of multiple components, each with an
independent existence.
 Indicated by indentation in E-R model(UML)
 Indicated by extension ellipses of an attribute ellipse (Chen Notation)

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Attributes
 Single-valued Attribute
Attribute that holds a single value for each occurrence of an
entity type.
Represented by
 A single line ellipse in Chen Notation
 Named attribute in UML-ER
 Multi-valued Attribute
Attribute that holds multiple values for each occurrence of an
entity type.
Represented by
 double line ellipse in Chen Notation
 [Min..Max ] boundary in UML

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Attributes
Derived Attribute
Attribute that represents a value that is derivable
from value of a related attribute, or set of attributes,
not necessarily in the same entity type.
Represented by
 a dotted line ellipse in traditional
 “/” prefix in UML

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Keys
 Candidate Key
Minimal set of attributes that uniquely identifies each
occurrence of an entity type.
 Primary Key
Candidate key selected to uniquely identify each occurrence of
an entity type.
 Underlined- Chen Notation
 {Pk} suffix( UML)
 Composite Key
A candidate key that consists of two or more attributes.
 Underline all (Chen Notation)
 {PK} suffix all (UML)

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ER diagram of Staff and Branch
entities and their attributes

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Entity Type
Strong Entity Type
Entity type that is not existence-dependent on some
other entity type.
Weak Entity Type
Entity type that is existence-dependent on some other
entity type.

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Strong entity type called Client and
weak entity type called Preference

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Relationship called Advertises with attributes

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Structural Constraints
Main type of constraint on relationships is called
multiplicity.
Multiplicity - number (or range) of possible
occurrences of an entity type that may relate to a
single occurrence of an associated entity type
through a particular relationship.
Represents policies (called business rules)
established by user or company.

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The most common degree for relationships is
binary.
Binary relationships are generally referred to as
being: ( in terms of Cardinality)
one-to-one (1:1)
one-to-many (1:*)
many-to-many (*:*)

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Semantic net of Staff Manages Branch
relationship type

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Multiplicity of Staff Manages Branch
(1:1) relationship

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Semantic net of Staff Oversees
PropertyForRent relationship type

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Multiplicity of Staff Oversees PropertyForRent
(1:*) relationship type

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Semantic net of Newspaper Advertises
PropertyForRent relationship type

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Multiplicity of Newspaper Advertises
PropertyForRent (*:*) relationship

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Structural Constraints for Complex
Relationships
Multiplicity for Complex Relationships
Number (or range) of possible occurrences of an
entity type in an n-ary relationship when other (n-1)
values are fixed.

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Semantic net of ternary Registers relationship
with values for Staff and Branch entities fixed

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Multiplicity of ternary Registers relationship

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Summary of multiplicity constraints

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Multiplicity is made up of two types of restrictions
on relationships: cardinality and participation.

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Cardinality
Describes maximum number of possible relationship
occurrences for an entity participating in a given
relationship type.
Participation
Determines whether all or only some entity occurrences
participate in a relationship.

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Multiplicity as cardinality and participation
constraints

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Problems with ER Models
Problems may arise when designing a conceptual
data model called connection traps.
Often due to a misinterpretation of the meaning of
certain relationships.
Two main types of connection traps are called fan
traps and chasm traps.

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Problems with ER Models
 Fan Trap
Where a model represents a relationship between entity types,
but pathway between certain entity occurrences is ambiguous.
Occurs when we have two or more 1..* relationships fanning
out from same entity type
 Chasm Trap
Where a model suggests the existence of a relationship
between entity types, but pathway does not exist between
certain entity occurrences.
A chasm trap may occur where there are one or more
relationships with a minimum multiplicity of zero (that is
optional participation) forming part of the pathway between
related entities
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An Example of a Fan Trap
This brings Ambiguity on the

information available

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Semantic Net of ER Model with Fan
Trap
At which branch office does staff number SG37

work?

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Restructuring ER model to remove Fan
Trap

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Semantic Net of Restructured ER
Model with Fan Trap Removed
SG37 works at branch B003.

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An Example of a Chasm Trap
This creates information gap

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Semantic Net of ER Model with Chasm
Trap
At which branch office is property PA14 available?

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ER Model restructured to remove Chasm
Trap

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Semantic Net of Restructured ER
Model with Chasm Trap Removed

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Enhanced Entity-Relationship Model
Since 1980s there has been an increase in
emergence of new database applications with more
demanding requirements.
Basic concepts of ER modelling are not sufficient to

represent requirements of newer, more complex
applications.
Response is development of additional ‘semantic’

modelling concepts.

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The Enhanced Entity-Relationship
Model
Semantic concepts are incorporated into the
original ER model and called the Enhanced Entity-
Relationship (EER) model.
Examples of additional concept of EER model is

called specialization / generalization.

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Specialization / Generalization
Superclass
An entity type that includes one or more distinct
subgroupings of its occurrences.
Subclass
A distinct subgrouping of occurrences of an entity
type.

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Superclass/subclass relationship is one-to-
one (1:1).
Superclass may contain overlapping or
distinct subclasses.
Not all members of a superclass need to be
a member of a subclass.
But all Members of a subclass are
members of a superclass
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Attribute Inheritance
An entity in a subclass represents same ‘real world’
object as in superclass, and may possess subclass-
specific attributes, as well as those associated with the
superclass.
Relationship Inheritance
An Entity in a subclass may inherit the Relationship
that its super class has with other entities

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Specialization
Process of maximizing differences between members
of an entity by identifying their distinguishing
characteristics.
Generalization
Process of minimizing differences between entities by
identifying their common characteristics.

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AllStaff relation holding details of all
staff

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Specialization/generalization of Staff entity
into subclasses representing job roles

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Specialization/generalization of Staff entity
into job roles and contracts of employment

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EER diagram with shared subclass and
subclass with its own subclass

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Constraints on Specialization / Generalization
Two constraints that may apply to a
specialization/generalization:
participation constraints
disjoint constraints.
Participation constraint
Determines whether every member in superclass
must participate as a member of a subclass.
May be mandatory or optional.

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Constraints on Specialization / Generalization
Disjoint constraint
Describes relationship between members of the
subclasses and indicates whether member of a
superclass can be a member of one, or more than one,
subclass.
May be disjoint or nondisjoint.

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Constraints on Specialization /
Generalization
There are four categories of constraints of
specialization and generalization:
mandatory and disjoint
optional and disjoint
mandatory and nondisjoint
optional and nondisjoint.

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DreamHome worked example - Staff Superclass
with Supervisor and Manager subclasses

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DreamHome worked example - Owner Superclass with
PrivateOwner and BusinessOwner subclasses

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DreamHome worked example - Person superclass
with Staff, PrivateOwner, and Client subclasses

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Chapter Three

 Basic concepts associated with ER model.

 Diagrammatic technique for displaying ER model using Unified

 How to identify and resolve problems with ER models- connection traps.

 How to build an E-R model from a requirements specification.

2 Fundamentals of Database Systems (INSY2031) - c 02/06/2024

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Requirements collection and analysis

Database design ( Three Phases of Designs)

DBMS selection (optional)

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This brings Ambiguity on the

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At which branch office does staff number SG37