GetAhead - Getting YOU Ahead in YOUR career!

GetAhead IN DATA ANALYSIS Entity Relationship Diagrams

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This training course, accredited by the National Computing Center, will teach you the core skills needed to design and produce Entity Relationship Diagrams using the method known as entity relationship modeling.

You will learn how to:

Apply the recognized industry standard analysis technique of entity relationship modeling.
Analyze any information-based system and produce a clear pictorial representation of it.
Identify opportunities and problem areas within an existing data environment.
Model and assess the impact of any proposed changes to information flows.
Optimize the storage and processing of information within a database.

Study Area 1 - Introduction

Entity Relationship Modeling - introduces the technique of entity relationship modeling, widely used to show how information is, or should be, stored and used within a business system.

Study Area 2 - Entities & Relationships

Entities - introduces the concept of an entity, which can be applied to almost anything that is significant to the system being studied, and explains the structure of the ‘data group’ that is associated with each entity.
Identifying Entities - introduces the process of identifying entities, which is one of the most important steps in developing a entity relationship model, and uses an exercise to illustrate some of the subtleties of entity identification.
Entity Identification Guidelines - introduces a series of entity identification guidelines, which should prove helpful to the inexperienced analyst.
Entity Keys - illustrates how an entity is defined by its attributes, and how each entity occurrence can be uniquely identified by using an attribute, or a combination of attributes, as a key.
Entity Descriptions - introduces the entity description form, a standard form that is used to describe an entity type, and explains why these forms should be updated iteratively, as the investigation proceeds.
Entity Relationships - introduces the ‘relationship’. This is an association between two entities (i.e. entity types) to which all of the occurrences of those entities must conform.
Identifying Relationships - introduces the two questions that need to be asked in order to establish the degree of the relationship that exists between two entities.
Relationship Statements - introduces the relationship statement. This is a formal description that encompasses the three properties of the relationship.

Study Area 3 - Modeling Complex Relationships

Resolving M:M Relationships - explains why many-to-many relationships are not permitted on the final data model, and shows how these invalid relationships should be resolved.
Resolving 1:1 Relationships - demonstrates why one-to-one relationships are rarely permitted on the final data model, and explains how these relationships can be resolved.
Multiple & Exclusive Relationships - introduces Multiple Relationships - where any two entities may share more than one relationship. It also illustrates Exclusive Relationships - where participation in one relationship excludes participation in other relationships.
Recursive Relationships - introduces the recursive relationship. This occurs when an entity has a relationship with itself.

Study Area 4 - Conducting the Analysis

Entity Cross Referencing - introduces entity cross-referencing, a rigorous approach to relationship identification, in which all possible entity relationships are considered. It also introduces a less formal approach; in which likely relationships are considered as the entity relationship diagram is drawn.
Drawing the Preliminary Model - introduces the drawing of the preliminary data model; which follows relationship identification.
Refining the Preliminary Model - explains how to refine the preliminary entity relationship model in order to remove redundant relationships, resolve invalid relationships and ensure that no connection traps are shown on the final data model.

Case Studies

Glossary

Back to Top