MIS 210

Information Systems I
Lecture 4:
Data Modeling
Process Modeling

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Data Models

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Entity-Relationship Diagrams

• Data-oriented approach
– uses the data and the relationships among data
to model requirements
– purpose is to show the data used in the system
– good for modeling data stores from a DFD
• A representation of organizational data.
– Shows the rules about the meanings and
interrelationships among the data.

MIS 210 Fall 2004 Sylnovie Merchant, Ph. D.

 E-R Diagrams
• Defined
– A graphical representation of an E-R model.
– E-R model
• a detailed, logical representation of the entities,
associations, and data elements for an organization
or business area.

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 E-R Symbols

Entity

Attribute

Relationship

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Terminology
• Entity
– a “thing” in the real world
– has an independent existence
• Attribute(s)
– One specific piece of information about a thing
– a property of the entity
– has a value (or value set or domain)
• Cardinality
– the number of instances of an entity that are associated with
another entity
– a single occurrence of an entity

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Data Entities
An Entity is a thing the users need to know (i.e, record)
something about.

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Types of Things

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Types of Attributes
• Identifier (primary key / key attribute)
– An attribute (or attributes) selected as the unique,
identifying characteristic for an entity.
• Foreign Key
– An attribute (or attributes) in one database table
that is the primary key in another database table

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Attributes and Their Values

All videos/DVDs have the Each video/DVD has a

following attributes: value for each attribute:

Product ID number 1
Product Name Woodstock
Product Description Concert
Category ID Other
Supplier ID WRNRBR
Serial Number DVD19925C1

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Relationships
• Relationship
– Naturally occurring association among specific
things
– Occur in two directions
– Cardinality/multiplicity

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Relationships
• Degree of Relationship
– number of entities that participate in that relationship
• Unary (recursive)
– degree one
– A relationship between instances of one entity.
• Binary
– degree two
– A relationship between instances of two entities
• Ternary
– A relationship between instances of three entities

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Cardinality of Relationships

MIS 210 Fall 2004

Relationships and Cardinality

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Trucking….One Approach

*Truck ID 1 makes m
Truck Trips
Volume
Weight 1
1
delivers to m
Retail Stores

carries

m
*Shipment Number
Shipment Volume m stored at m Warehouses
Shipment
Weight
Destination

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Trucking….Another Approach

Truck ID 1 makes m
Truck Trips
Volume
Weight 1
1
delivers to m
Retail Stores

carries

m
Shipment Number
m stored at m Warehouses
Shipment Volume Shipment
Weight
Destination

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Data Dictionary

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Data Dictionary Defined
“…the data dictionary collects and coordinates
specific data terms, and it confirms what each
term means to different people in the
organization.”
Kendall & Kendall

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Data Dictionary
(aka, Project Repository)
• Repository for all primitive-level data structures
and data elements within a system.
• Use information from DFDs or ERDs to create the
DD
• DD details each of the data items, data flows,
processes, etc. in a system
• For example: DD entry for data items would
show characteristics such as size, type,
description, ranges, etc.

MIS 210 Fall 2004 Sylnovie Merchant, Ph. D.

 Process Models

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Process Modeling
• Focus on the internal structure and
processes in the DFD
• Most popular models
– Structured English
– Decision Tables
– Decision Trees

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Structured English
• Form of English used to specify the
processes in a DFD
• Makes use of nouns and action verbs
• Similar to pseudocode

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Structured English Example
End of Month Processing

DO FOR EACH INVENTORY ITEM

COUNT STOCK IN STOCK ROOM
ENTER COUNT ON INVENTORY SHEET
END DO

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Decision Tables
• Lays out the logic of complex problems where
there are multiple actions based on multiple
decisions.

• Four components
– conditions
– decision rules
– actions
– action entries

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Decision Tables
• The total possible number of decision rules
represents the total possible combinations,
or permutations, of the condition values

• For example, for yes or no values:

number of decision rules = 2n
• For three conditions with yes or no values
number of decision rules = 2n = 23 = 8

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Decision Tables
• For a range of values
– example, age: 1=18 to 20, 2=21-30, 3=31-40, 4=41-50,
5=50 or over
– five (5) values for this condition
• What if there are a combination of different values
– yes or no values
– five values
– total possible values = 2 x 5=10

MIS 210 Fall 2004

 Decision Trees
• A graphical representation of a decision
structure.

• Difficult to use for a complex situation.

MIS 210 Fall 2004