Data Models
Data Model is a logical structure of Database. It describes the design of database
to reflect entities, attributes, relationship among data, constrains etc.
Data Model is the modeling of the data description, data semantics, and
consistency constraints of the data.
It provides the conceptual tools for describing the design of a database at each
level of data abstraction.
Types of Data Models
There are several types of data models in DBMS.
1. E-R Model
2. Object oriented Model
3. Relational Model
4. Hierarchical Model
5. Network Model
1. Entity Relationship Diagram – ER Diagram in DBMS
An Entity–relationship model (ER model) describes the structure of a database with the
help of a diagram, which is known as Entity Relationship Diagram (ER Diagram). An ER
model is a design or blueprint of a database that can later be implemented as a
database. The main components of E-R model are: entity set and relationship set.
What is an Entity Relationship Diagram (ER Diagram)?
An ER diagram shows the relationship among entity sets.
An entity set is a group of similar entities and these entities can have attributes.
In terms of DBMS, an entity is a table or attribute of a table in database, so by
showing relationship among tables and their attributes, ER diagram shows the
complete logical structure of a database.
Example of ER Diagram:
In the following diagram we have two entities -Student and College and their
relationship. The relationship between Student and College is many to one as a college
can have many students however a student cannot study in multiple colleges at the same
time. Student entity has attributes such as Stu_Id, Stu_Name & Stu_Addr and College
entity has attributes such as Col_ID & Col_Name.
Symbols in ER Diagram:
Rectangle: Represents Entity sets.
Ellipses: Attributes
Diamonds: Relationship Set
Lines: They link attributes to Entity Sets and Entity sets to Relationship Set
Double Ellipses: Multivalued Attributes
Dashed Ellipses: Derived Attributes
Double Rectangles: Weak Entity Sets
Double Lines: Total participation of an entity in a relationship set
Components of a ER Model
As shown in the above diagram, an ER diagram has three main components:
1. Entity
2. Attribute
3. Relationship
1. Entity
Any real-world object can be represented as an entity about which data can be stored in a
database. All the real world objects like a book, an organization, a product, a car, a
person are the examples of an entity. An entity is an object or component of data. An
entity is represented as rectangle in an ER diagram. For example: In the following ER
diagram we have two entities Student and College and these two entities have many to
one relationship as many students study in a single college. We will read more about
relationships later, for now focus on entities.
Weak Entity:
An entity that cannot be uniquely identified by its own attributes and relies on the
relationship with other entity is called weak entity. The weak entity is represented by a
double rectangle. For example – a bank account cannot be uniquely identified without
knowing the bank to which the account belongs, so bank account is a weak entity.
2. Attribute
An attribute describes the property of an entity. An attribute is represented as Oval in an
ER diagram. There are four types of attributes:
1. Key attribute
2. Composite attribute
3. Multivalued attribute
4. Derived attribute
1. Key attribute:
A key attribute can uniquely identify an entity from an entity set. For example, student
roll number can uniquely identify a student from a set of students. Key attribute is
represented by oval same as other attributes however the text of key attribute is
underlined.
2. Composite attribute:
An attribute that is a combination of other attributes is known as composite attribute.
For example, In student entity, the student address is a composite attribute as an address
is composed of other attributes such as pin code, state, country.
3. Multivalued attribute:
An attribute that can hold multiple values is known as multivalued attribute. It is
represented with double ovals in an ER Diagram. For example – A person can have more
than one phone numbers so the phone number attribute is multivalued.
4. Derived attribute:
A derived attribute is one whose value is dynamic and derived from another attribute. It is
represented by dashed oval in an ER Diagram. For example – Person age is a derived
attribute as it changes over time and can be derived from another attribute (Date of birth).
E-R diagram with multivalued and derived attributes:
3. Relationship/ Cardinality
A relationship is represented by diamond shape in ER diagram, it shows the relationship
among entities. There are four types of relationships or Relationship Cardinality:
1. One to One
2. One to Many
3. Many to One
4. Many to Many
1. One to One Relationship
When a single instance of an entity is associated with a single instance of another entity
then it is called one to one relationship. In other words, One entity from entity set X can
be associated with at most one entity of entity set Y and vice versa.
For example1., a person has only one passport and a passport is given to one person.
2. One to Many Relationship
When a single instance of an entity is associated with more than one instances of another
entity then it is called one to many relationship.
For example – a customer can place many orders but a order cannot be placed by many
customers.
Another example, one class is consisting of multiple students.
3. Many to One Relationship
When more than one instances of an entity is associated with a single instance of another
entity then it is called many to one relationship. For example – many students can study
in a single college but a student cannot study in many colleges at the same time.
Another example, many students belong to the same class.
4. Many to Many Relationship
When more than one instances of an entity is associated with more than one instances of
another entity then it is called many to many relationship. For example, a can be assigned
to many projects and a project can be assigned to many students.
For example, Students as a group are associated with multiple faculty members, and
faculty members can be associated with multiple students.
4. Cardinality in ER Diagram
Examples
