MIS 403 – Database Management Systems -II

Dr Mohamed A Sheriff

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MIS403 – Lecture 4

Structural Constraints and Problems with

ER Models

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Chapter 12 - Objectives

 Basic concepts associated with ER model.

 How to identify and resolve problems with ER

models called connection traps.

 How to build an ER model from a requirements

specification.
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Structural Constraints
 Multiplicity is made up of two types of
restrictions on relationships: cardinality and
participation.

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Structural Constraints

 Cardinality
– Describes maximum number of possible
relationship occurrences for an entity
participating in a given relationship type.

 Participation
– Determines whether all or only some entity
occurrences participate in a relationship.
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Multiplicity as cardinality and participation
constraints

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Problems with ER Models
 Problems may arise when designing a
conceptual data model called connection traps.
 Often due to a misinterpretation of the
meaning of certain relationships.
 Two main types of connection traps are called
fan traps and chasm traps.

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Problems with ER Models
 Fan Trap
– Where a model represents a relationship
between entity types, but pathway between
certain entity occurrences is ambiguous.

 Chasm Trap
– Where a model suggests the existence of a
relationship between entity types, but pathway
does not exist between certain entity
occurrences.
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An Example of a Fan Trap

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Semantic Net of ER Model with Fan Trap

 At which branch office does staff number SG37

work?

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Restructuring ER model to remove Fan Trap

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Semantic Net of Restructured ER Model
with Fan Trap Removed

 SG37 works at branch B003.

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An Example of a Chasm Trap

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Semantic Net of ER Model with Chasm Trap

 At which branch office is property PA14

available?

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ER Model restructured to remove Chasm Trap

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Semantic Net of Restructured ER Model
with Chasm Trap Removed

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Class Exercise - Entity Relationship Modelling

A university library keeps information on books held, students who borrow the books,
and the (book)loans which the students take. In addition, information is held about
the authors and the library cards the students use to borrow the books. A book can be
written by many authors and one author can write several books. Also a book(copy)
can be borrowed by many students and a student can borrow many books.
Each student is given one library card with a unique number. The card number and
date
of allocation of each card are recorded. A database designer has identified the following
entities and attributes for the library system.

Book_Title(ISBN, Title, Price)

Book_Copy(BookCopyNo, DateAcquired, DateDestroyed)
Student(StudentNo, StudentName, Course)
Author(AuthorNo, AuthorName)
Library_Card(CardNo, DateAllocated)

Develop an ER diagram for the proposed library database system clearly indicating the
 ER Diagram – Library Database using UML notation

BookCopy Loan Student

1..1 0..* 0..* 1..1
BookCopyNo StudentNo StudentNo
DateAcquired For BookCopyNo Takes StudentName
Date Destroyed DateOut Course
DateDue
1..* DateBack 1..`1
AllocatedTo
Has
1..1 1..1

BookTitle Author LibraryCard

1..* 1..*
ISBN AuthorNo CardNo
Title Writes AuthorName DateAllocated
Price

Identify all primary (PK) and Foreign(FK) keys and decomposed any many-to-many
relationships