MIRPUR UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (MUST), MIRPUR

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

 DATABASE SYSTEMS
MCS-115

Lecture 11 : Data Models and Conceptual Modeling

Farzana Riaz
(Lecturer)

Date: ______________
 Lecture Contents

• Data models

• Components of data models

• Categories of data models

• Conceptual modeling

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 Lecture Objectives

This lecture is designed:

• To understand the Data models

• To understand the purpose and components of data models

• To understand the categories of data models

• To understand the key concepts of conceptual modeling

MCS-115 Database Systems

Data Models and Conceptual Modeling

Fig. 1 Data Models

MCS-115 Database Systems
 Data Model

• Data Model:

An integrated collection of concepts for describing and manipulating data, relationships

between data, and constraints on the data in an organization.

• A data model represents the organization itself.

• It should provide the basic concepts and notations that will allow database designers and
end-users unambiguously and accurately to communicate their understanding of the
organizational data.

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 Purpose of Data Model

• The purpose of a data model is to represent data and to make the data understandable.

• If it does this, then it can be easily used to design a database.

• To reflect the ANSI-SPARC architecture discussed in previous lecture, we can identify three
related data models:

o External Data Model

o Conceptual Data Model

o Internal Data Model

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 Components of Data Model

• External data model represents each user’s view of the organization, sometimes called the
Universe of Discourse (UoD)

• Conceptual data model represents the logical (or community) view that is DBMS
independent

• Internal data model represents the conceptual schema in such a way that it can be
understood by the DBMS.

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 Categories of Data Model

• They fall into three broad categories:

o Object-based

o Record-based

o Physical

• The first two are used to describe data at the conceptual and external levels

• The latter is used to describe data at the internal level

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 Object-Based Data Models

• Object-based data models use concepts such as entities, attributes, and relationships.

• Some of the more common types of object-based data model are:

o Entity–Relationship

o Semantic

o Functional

o Object-Oriented

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 Record-Based Data Models

• In a record-based model, the database consists of a number of fixed-format records possibly

of differing types.

• Each record type defines a fixed number of fields, each typically of a fixed length.

• There are three principal types of record-based logical data model:

o The relational data model

o The network data model

o The hierarchical data model

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 Record-Based Data Models

• The relational data model:

o The relational data model is based on the concept of mathematical relations.

o In the relational model, data and relationships are represented as tables, each of which has a number
of columns with a unique name.

• The network data model:

o In the network model, data is represented as collections of records, and relationships are represented
by sets.

o The records are organized as generalized graph structures with records appearing as nodes (also
called segments) and sets as edges in the graph.

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 Record-Based Data Models

• The hierarchical data model:

o The hierarchical model is a restricted type of network model.

o Data is represented as collections of records and relationships are represented by sets.

o The hierarchical model allows a node to have only one parent.

o A hierarchical model can be represented as a tree graph, with records appearing as nodes
(also called segments) and sets as edges.

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 Physical Data Models

• Physical data models describe how data is stored in the computer, representing information
such as:

o Record Structures

o Record Orderings

o Access Paths

• There are not as many physical data models as logical data models.

• The most common ones being the unifying model and the frame memory.

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 Conceptual Modeling

• Conceptual modeling, or conceptual database design, is the process of constructing a model

of the information use in an enterprise that is independent of implementation.

• This model is called a conceptual data model.

• Conceptual models are also referred to as logical models in the literature.

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 Reference

• Database Systems A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management, 4th

Edition, Thomas Connolly, Carolyn Begg, Addison Wesley.

• Fundamentals of Database Systems by R. Elmasri and S. Navathe. 6th Edition, Addison-Wesley

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THANKS