Systems and Database Design

Assignment: Normalisation and E-R Modelling

Assignment Marks: Marked out of 20, worth 20% of unit
Due Date: 29 December 2023, 9:00AM

Background Information
This assignment tests your knowledge and understanding of two of the concepts we have covered in this unit –
Normalisation and Entity-Relationship Modelling. Both processes aim to organise and represent a set of data in an
efficient manner that minimises redundancy and establishes the structure of related groups of data. These are
important first steps in constructing databases.

The assignment consists of four tasks, focusing on normalisation and entity-relationship modelling. Attempt all
questions, and be sure to show all relevant stages/working and state any assumptions.

The presentation of your solutions/document and use of correct notation are also considered.

A Note Regarding Assumptions

It is not possible to define every single aspect of all systems in the assignment brief, nor is it beneficial to attempt this.
Part of the process of completing the assignment tasks is making (and declaring) assumptions that define any
ambiguous or unspecified details in the scenarios. It is up to you to make these assumptions, but feel free to discuss
them with your tutor if you are uncertain of their validity. The tutorial of Module 1 (recording available on unit site)
discusses assumptions.

There is no “universally correct” set of assumptions for the tasks. Think about the problem, and make assumptions as
you encounter the need for them. All assumptions should affect or be enforced/implemented by your database
design, and they should not contradict or repeat something that is specified in the assignment brief. Your assumptions
are unlikely to have a major impact upon the task or the resulting database structure – if they do, seek advice from
your tutor.

The most common assumptions are likely to regard identifying irrelevant or derived data (Tasks 1 and 2), or the
cardinality of relationships between entities (all tasks). Some assumptions may make a task easier, but avoid always
making assumptions that make the task easier, as this is a questionable practise and is likely result in a solutions that do
not demonstrate a deep understanding. Always remember to clearly state all assumptions you make.

Your assumptions should give context to your solutions, making it clear to staff that you have considered certain
aspects of the scenarios and decided upon how to approach them.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 1

Task 1 – Normalisation 1 (5 marks)
The table below shows part of a spreadsheet used by libraries to keep track of their stock of books.

BookId Author Title PublisherId Publisher LibraryCode LibraryName Stock

1 Boris Markson 53 more things to do CSXPNG Pinguino PER1 WA State 3
in zero gravity
1 Boris Markson 53 more things to do CSXPNG Pinguino VIC1 Victoria Park 2
in zero gravity
2 Terbert How to train a skunk SCIIND Indigo PER2 City of Perth 2
Humperdinkle for fun and profit
3 Agnes The Bantworth CSXPNG Pinguino PER2 City of Perth 1
Finkleworth Chronicals
3 Agnes The Bantworth CSXPNG Pinguino VIC1 Victoria Park 1
Finkleworth Chronicals
3 Agnes The Bantworth CSXPNG Pinguino JOO1 Joondalup 3
Finkleworth Chronicals

Take heed of the following tips and reminders:

● There are several valid ways to normalise this data, leading to almost identical solutions.
● This scenario only allows for one repeating group, i.e. R1 = (Outer Group {Repeating Group}). Not all groups
of logically related attributes will begin in its own repeating group, i.e.
A repeating group may contain attributes that will be split into different relations later on.

Design a relational database for this scenario by normalising the data to the third normal form, clearly showing the
stages of 0NF, 1NF, 2NF and 3NF. State any assumptions you make. Use relational symbolic notation as indicated in
the second lecture, and name the relations upon reaching 3NF.

Hint: You can/should introduce auto-incrementing ID columns to serve as the primary key of a relation if a suitable
attribute does not exist in the data. Remember to state assumptions and include them from 0NF.

Include a physical E-R diagram of your normalised results. Remember to state any assumptions regarding the
cardinality of the relationships in the diagram.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 2

Task 2 – Normalisation 2 (5 marks)
The form below depicts an invoice for a purchase from a fast food store.

Design a relational database for this scenario by normalising the data to the third normal form, clearly showing the
stages of 0NF, 1NF, 2NF and 3NF. State any assumptions you make. Use relational symbolic notation as indicated in
the second lecture, and name the relations upon reaching 3NF.

Include a physical E-R diagram of your normalised results. Remember to state any assumptions regarding the
cardinality of the relationships in the diagram.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 3

Task 3 – Entity-Relationship Modelling 1 (5 marks)
You have been hired to design a database system for an online toy store. The database must keep track of
the customers, suppliers, products, product categories, and orders. You have the following information
about the way the store operates:

● Customer details must be recorded. This includes a customer number, first name, last name, email address
and password.
▪ The store wishes to implement a “referral system” to reward customers who tell others about the
store. Therefore, customer details should also include a “referrer” column, which will contain the
customer number of the customer who referred them, if applicable (not all customers are referred by
someone).

● Details of item suppliers must be recorded (i.e. the sources of the items that they sell). This includes a
supplier ID number, business name, phone number and website URL.

● Details of products must be recorded. This includes an item ID number, name, description, price (how much
the store sells it for), cost (how much it costs the store to buy) and stock (how many of the item the store
currently has available).
▪ The store keeps track of the supplier of each product. Products only have one supplier.

● A list of item categories must be recorded, and the database must keep track of which items are in which
categories. All items are in at least one category, but can be in several of them.
▪ The only category details required are a category ID number and a category name.

● Details of orders made by customers must be recorded. This includes an invoice ID number, the date/time of
the order, a delivery address and a billing address, as well as the customer ID number of the customer who
made the order.

● For each order, the database must record details of ordered products (i.e. which products were included in
the order) and the quantity ordered. Each order must contain at least one item.

Based on the details above, you are required to draw both a logical E-R diagram for this database and then a
corresponding physical E-R diagram. Clearly show all cardinality, primary and foreign keys, attributes and relationships
as appropriate.

Adhere to the distinctions between logical and physical E-R diagrams defined in Lecture 3.
Use enhanced E-R model notation where/if appropriate, and remember to state your assumptions.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 4

Task 4 – Entity-Relationship Modelling 2 (5 marks)
The toy store from Task 3 now requires you to update and expand the previous database you designed for them, to
record some new and additional information. You must update and expand your E-R diagrams from Task 3 to
incorporate these new requirements:

● Customers can now define addresses which are stored in the database. A customer can define multiple
addresses, and each address is associated with a single customer via their customer ID number. As well as
specifying the address itself, customers can specify a name for the address, e.g. “Home”. An address ID
number is used to identify each address.
▪ Rather than storing addresses directly in the order details, the order details should now contain two
foreign keys referencing the address entity – one for the delivery address and one for the billing
address.
▪ Every order must reference an address for delivery and an address for billing, and the same address
can be used for delivery and billing.
▪ You do not need to worry about ensuring that the addresses associated with an order belong to the
customer placing the order – This is enforced outside of the database.

● The toy shop has decided to start doing limited time special events. Each event has a name, a start date/time
and an end date/time. The store offers a percentage discount to all orders made during the event (that is all
orders with an order date that occurs after the event’s start date and before the event’s end date) which the
database will need to keep track of.

Create updated and expanded versions of your logical and physical E-R diagrams from Task 3 that incorporate these
requirements. You should not need to modify much from your Task 3 solution; you mainly need to expand the
diagrams by adding the new attributes, entities and relationships.

Remember to state any additional assumptions you make, use enhanced E-R model notation where/if appropriate, and
show cardinality on both diagrams. Ensure that you submit separate solutions to Tasks 3 and 4 – a total of four E-R
diagrams.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 5

Presentation and Notation
The presentation of your solutions/document and use of correct notation are considered when marking. Presentation
includes the layout and formatting of your assignment – the consistent use of styles, neat and legible diagrams,
ensuring your name and student number is in the document, etc.

Notation must be used correctly and consistently in both your normalisation and E-R diagrams. Some notation only
applies to normalisation or E-R diagrams. When working through the normal forms, use correct numbering of relations
and use strikethrough to indicate where a relation is split into multiple relations. Please use diagramming software to
create E-R diagrams.

Adhere to the notation used in the unit materials wherever possible. If unable to do so for some reason, make sure
that whatever notation you use is consistently applied and clearly represents the meaning of what you are depicting.
Include a key or legend if necessary.

Please submit your assignment as a single PDF document, and open the PDF file before submitting it to ensure that
your diagrams appear as intended and can be clearly read. Marks will be lost for submissions that include separate files
for diagrams, diagrams that are not clear enough to evaluate, or diagrams that require additional software to
open/view.

Submission of Deliverables
Once your assignment is complete, submit the file to the appropriate location in the Assignments area of the unit site.
Your submission should consist of a single PDF document.

Submissions via email or hard copies are NOT permitted, unless you are specifically instructed to do so. Ensure that the
first page of the document includes your name and student number.

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 6

Academic Integrity and Misconduct
The entirety of your assignment must be your own work (unless otherwise referenced) and produced for the current
instance of the unit. Any unreferenced content you did not create is academic misconduct (plagiarism). Assignments
are submitted to plagiarism checking software which includes previous assignments, and the work submitted by all
students in the unit. Submissions are also manually compared and checked. Do not make your work available online,
during or after the unit.

Remember that this is an individual assignment. Never give anyone any part of your assignment – even after the due
date or after results have been released. Do not work together with other students on individual assignments – you can
help someone by explaining a concept or directing them to the relevant resources, but doing any part of the assignment
for them or alongside them, or showing them your work, is inappropriate. An unacceptable level of cooperation
between students on an assignment is academic misconduct (collusion). Using Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) is
also inappropriate for assignment work. If you are uncertain about plagiarism, collusion or referencing, simply contact
your tutor, lecturer or unit coordinator.

You may be asked to explain and demonstrate your understanding of the work you have submitted. Your submission
should accurately reflect your understanding and ability to apply the unit content.

Assignment Marking Key

Marks are allocated as follows for this assignment.
Marks
Criteria
Allocated
Task 1 - Normalisation 1
Table normalised into suitable 3NF structure. Working shown and correct notation used. All assumptions stated 5
and final data sets named. Physical E-R diagram is accurate.

Task 2 - Normalisation 2
Form normalised into suitable 3NF structure. Working shown and correct notation used. Assumptions stated and 5
final data sets named. Physical E-R diagram is accurate.

Task 3 - Entity-Relationship Modelling 1

Specifications translated into suitable and well-presented logical and physical E-R diagrams. 5
Relationships, cardinality, attributes and keys all clearly depicted. All assumptions stated.

Task 4 - Entity-Relationship Modelling 2

Specifications translated into suitable and well-presented logical and physical E-R diagrams. 5
Relationships, cardinality, attributes and keys all clearly depicted. All assumptions stated.

Total: 20

Summer School, 2023 CSG1207 Assignment Page 7