Information Management - 4 Flashcards
Entity Relationship Model
- ER model is the basis of ER diagrm
- represents conceptual database viweed as endsuer
- Composed of: entities, relationship, attribute
Entities
- refers to entity and not a single entity
- Corresponds to table and not row in relational environment
- In Chen and Crow’s diagram, entity name is writtten inside the rectangle
- Entity is noun with capital lettters
Attribute
characteristics of an entity
Chen notation
attribute is written in an oval conncted to entity
Crow’s foot
attribute is within the attribute box below any rectangle
Required attribute
must have a value
Optional Attribute
may be left null
Composite Identifier
primary key composed of one or more attribute
Identifiers
one or more attributes that uniquely identify each entity instance
Composite attribute
can be subdivided
Simple attribute
cannot be subdivided
Single-value attribute
can only have a single value
Multivalued attribute
can have multiple values
Derived Attribute
can be calculated from other attribute
Relationship
- Association between entities
- Participants are entities that participate in a relationship
- Relationships between entities always operate in both directions
- Relationship can be classified as 1:M
- Relationship classification is difficult to establish if only one side of the relationship is known
Connectivity
relationship classification
Cardinality
minimum and maximum number of entitiy occurance
existence dependence
Entity exists in database only when it is associated with another related entity occurrence
Existence Indepencence
- entity can exist apart from one or more related entities
- sometimes known as strong entities
Weak Relationship
Exists if PK of related entity does not contain PK component of parent entity
Strong Relationship
Exists when PK of related entity contains PK component of parent entity
Weak Entity
- existence-dependence
- primary key came from parent key
Optional Participation
One entity occurrence does not require corresponding entity occurrence in particular relationship
Mandatory Participation
One entity occurrence requires corresponding entity occurrence in particular relationship