CHAPTER 3:

THE ENHANCED E-R MODEL

Essentials of Database Management

Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Heikki Topi, V. Ramesh

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

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 OBJECTIVES
 Define terms
 Understand use of supertype/subtype relationships
 Understand use of specialization and generalization techniques
 Specify completeness and disjointness constraints
 Develop supertype/subtype hierarchies for realistic business
situations
 Explain universal (packaged) data model
 Describe special features of data modeling project using
packaged data model

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 SUPERTYPES AND SUBTYPES
 Enhanced ER model: extends original ER model with
new modeling constructs
 Subtype: A subgrouping of the entities in an entity type that
has attributes distinct from those in other subgroupings
 Supertype: A generic entity type that has a relationship
with one or more subtypes
 Attribute Inheritance:
 Subtype entities inherit values of all attributes of the
supertype
 An instance of a subtype is also an instance of the supertype

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 Figure 3-1 Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation

a) EER

notation

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 Figure 3-1 Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation (cont.)

b) Microsoft
Visio
Notation

Different modeling tools may have different notation for the same
modeling constructs

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 Figure 3-2 Employee supertype with three subtypes

All employee subtypes

will have employee
number, name, address,
and date hired

Each employee subtype

will also have its own
attributes

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 RELATIONSHIPS AND SUBTYPES
 Relationships at the supertype level indicate that
all subtypes will participate in the relationship
 The instances of a subtype may participate in a
relationship unique to that subtype. In this
situation, the relationship is shown at the subtype
level

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Figure 3-3 Supertype/subtype relationships in a hospital

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GENERALIZATION AND
SPECIALIZATION
 Generalization: The process of defining a
more general entity type from a set of more
specialized entity types. BOTTOM-UP
 Specialization: The process of defining
one or more subtypes of the supertype and
forming supertype/subtype relationships.
TOP-DOWN

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 Figure 3-4 Example of generalization
a) Three entity types: CAR, TRUCK, and MOTORCYCLE

All these types of vehicles have common attributes

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 Figure 3-4 Example of generalization (cont.)
b) Generalization to VEHICLE supertype

So we put
the shared
attributes in
a supertype

Note: no subtype for motorcycle, since it has no unique

attributes
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 Figure 3-5 Example of specialization

a) Entity type PART

Only applies to
manufactured parts

Applies only to purchased parts

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 Figure 3-5 Example of specialization (cont.)
b) Specialization to MANUFACTURED PART and PURCHASED PART

Created 2
subtypes

Note: multivalued composite attribute was replaced

by an associative entity relationship to another entity
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CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS
 Completeness Constraints: Whether
an instance of a supertype must also be a
member of at least one subtype
 Total Specialization Rule: Yes (double line)
 Partial Specialization Rule: No (single line)

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 Figure 3-6 Examples of completeness constraints
a) Total specialization rule

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 Figure 3-6 Examples of completeness constraints (cont.)
b) Partial specialization rule

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CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS
 Disjointness Constraints: Whether an
instance of a supertype may simultaneously
be a member of two (or more) subtypes
 Disjoint Rule: An instance of the supertype can
be only ONE of the subtypes
 Overlap Rule: An instance of the supertype
could be more than one of the subtypes

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 Figure 3-7 Examples of disjointness constraints

a) Disjoint rule

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 Figure 3-7 Examples of disjointness constraints (cont.)
b) Overlap rule

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 CONSTRAINTS IN SUPERTYPE/SUBTYPE
RELATIONSHIPS
 Subtype Discriminator: An attribute of the
supertype whose values determine the target
subtype(s)
 Disjoint – a simple attribute with alternative values to
indicate the possible subtypes
 Overlapping – a composite attribute whose subparts
pertain to different subtypes. Each subpart contains a
Boolean value to indicate whether or not the instance
belongs to the associated subtype
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Figure 3-8 Introducing a subtype discriminator (disjoint rule)

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 Figure 3-9 Subtype discriminator (overlap rule)

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 Figure 3-10 Example of supertype/subtype hierarchy

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 Questions about PVF E-R Model
Figure 3-11 E-R
1. Why do some customers not
diagram for Pine
do business in one or more sales
Valley Furniture
territories?
Company
2. Why do some employees not
supervise other employees, and
why are they not all supervised by
another employee? And why do
some employees not work in a
work center?
3. Why do some vendors not
supply raw materials to Pine
Valley Furniture?

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 New business rules for PVF

1. There are two types of

customers: regular and national
account. Only regular customers
do business in sales territories.
National customers have an
account manager.

2. Two special types of employees

exist: management and union. Only
union employees
work in work centers, and a
management employee supervises
union employees.

3. PVF keeps track of many

different vendors; not all have
supplied raw materials. Vendors
who supplied raw materials have a
contract number.
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 PACKAGED DATA MODELS

 Predefined data models

 Could be universal or industry-specific
 Universal data model = a generic or
template data model that can be reused as a
starting point for a data modeling project
(also called a “pattern”)

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 ADVANTAGES OF PACKAGED DATA
MODELS
 Use proven model components
 Save time and cost
 Less likelihood of data model errors
 Easier to evolve and modify over time
 Aid in requirements determination
 Easier to read
 Supertype/subtype hierarchies promote reuse
 Many-to-many relationships enhance model flexibility
 Vendor-supplied data model fosters integration with vendor’s
applications
 Universal models support inter-organizational systems

Chapter 3 Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. 27

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mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

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