1. IS6125 Database Analysis and Design Lecture 7: Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) Modeling
Rob Gleasure

2. IS6125 Today’s session Enhanced Entity-Relationship Modelling
An exercise

3. The last few weeks Presentation Layer ER Diagram
Contains hashes and oval
Design-specific ER Diagram (Coarse-granularity)
Uses (min, max) notation
Maps deletion rules
Design-specific ER Diagram (Fine-granularity)
Maps attribute characteristics into ER diagram
Decomposes multi-valued attributes
Decomposes m:n relationships

4. The last few weeks
Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) extends the ERD by incorporating additional constructs, specifically the superclass/subclass (SC/sc) relationship

5. An example of a superclass/subclass relationships (SC/sc)
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

6. Why bother with superclasses/subclasses?
This isn’t the only option for this example, e.g. we could have…
Modelled furniture as one entity type with an attribute called furniture_type; then chair, table, and sofa would be values of that attribute
Modelled three independent entity types for chair, table, and sofa, and create three separate relationship types with the entity type store
Each of these options creates redundancy

7. A vignette
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

8. Option 1: modelling student athletes with composite attributes
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

9. Option 2: modelling student athletes using inter-entity class relationships
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

10. Types of SC/sc relationships
There are two basic kinds of Sc/sc relationships
Specialization/Generalization: One superclass (SC) is related to one or more subclasses (sc)
Categorization: One subclass (sc) is related to one or more superclasses (SC)

11. Specialisation and Generalisation
Specialisation is the process of generating subgroups (‘sc’s) of a generic entity class (SC) by specifying the distinguishing properties (attributes) of the subgroups (= top-down approach)
Generalisation, on the other hand, crystallizes the common properties (attributes) shared by a set of entity types (‘sc’s) into a generic entity type (SC) (= bottom-up approach)
Notation: circle + fork (indicating subset)
Read: “is-a”

12. Two important constraints of specialisation and generalisation
Completeness Constraint can be one of two values
Total specialisation means that every entity of the superclass must participate in this specialisation/ generalisation relationship (indicated by a solid line from the superclass to the specialization/generalization symbol (i.e., the circle))
Partial specialisation means that there may be entities present in the superclass that do not participate in this specialisation/generalisation (indicated by a dotted line)

13. Two important constraints of specialisation and generalisation
Disjointness Constraint can also be one of two values
Disjointed means an entity of the superclass cannot be a member of more than one subclass (indicated by ‘D’),
Overlapped means an entity of the superclass can be a member of more than one subclass (indicated by ‘O’)

14. Notation for completeness and disjointness constraints
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

15. Notation for completeness and disjointness constraints
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

16. Notation for completeness and disjointness constraints
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

17. Categorisation and Aggregation
The first form of this is a category construct
Notation: ‘U’
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

18. Categorisation and Aggregation
The second form of this is an aggregation construct
Notation: ‘A’ (note that an aggregate can never be partial)
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

19. An aggregate hierarchy
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

20. Example of Presentation Layer EERD
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

21. A Fine-granular Design-Specific EER Diagram for the vignette
Image from Data Modeling and Database Design, By Narayan Umanath, Richard Scamell

22. Exercise
For the Design-Specific EER Diagram for the vignette on the previous slide
What are the superclass entity types and subclass entity types?
What attributes are inherited by the entity type Pitcher

23. Exercise
Draw a Presentation Layer ER Diagram for the following narrative
A commercial air flight stores a flight list containing both passengers and staff. This flight list detail the final destination and passport number for everyone on board. Passengers will also have data for their name, nationality and seat number. Staff will also have data for their name, job title and the number of years they have worked for the company. Some staff are contract staff, in which case their pay rate and employment agency should be listed. Other employees are permanent staff, in which case their salary, pension details, and union should be listed. Other employees are non-paid government officials, in which case their department and clearance level should be listed. For paid staff (meaning contract and permanent staff), an employee number must be stored and home location may also be listed.