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Entity Relationship Model

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Database Systems

Synonyms

ER Model; ERM; Entity-Relationship Model

Definition

The entity relationship model (ERM) is a conceptual model that represents the information structure of a problem domain in terms of entities and relationships. The result of modeling using the ERM is graphically represented as an entity relationship diagram (ERD). Thus, an ERD represents the conceptual structure of a problem domain being modeled. ERDs are widely used in database design and systems analysis to capture requirements of a system or a problem domain. In particular, when used for data modeling, the ERD assists the database designer in identifying both the data and the rules that are represented and used in a database. ERDs are readily translated into relational database schemas.

Historical Background

The ERM was introduced by Peter Chen in 1976 [2]. The ERM and its variations have been widely used in database modeling and design, systems analysis and design methodologies, computer-aided software engineering (CASE)...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Batini C., Ceri S., and Navathe S.B. Conceptual Database Design: An Entity-Relationship Approach. Benjamin/Cummings, Reading, MA, 1991.

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  2. Chen P.P. The entity relationship model – toward a unified view of data. ACM Trans. Database Sys., 1(1):9–36, 1976.

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  3. Chen P.P. English sentence structure and entity relationship diagrams. Inf. Sci., 29(2–3):127–149, 1983.

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  4. Chen P.P. Entity-relationship modeling: historical events, future trends, and lessons learned. In Software Pioneers: Contributions to Software Engineering, M. Broy, E. Denert (eds.). Springer, NY, 2002, pp. 100–114.

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  5. Dullea J., Song I.-Y., and Lamprou I. An analysis of structural validity in entity-relationship modeling. Data Knowl. Eng., 47(3):167–205, 2003.

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  6. Elmasri R. and Navathe S. Fundamentals of Database Systems, 5th edn. Benjamin/Cummings, Reading, MA, (2007).

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  7. ER conferences. Available at: http://conceptualmodeling.org

  8. Ling T.W. A normal form for entity-relationship diagrams. In Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Entity-Relationship Approach. IEEE Computer Society, WA, 1985, pp. 24–35.

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  9. Song I.-Y., Evans M., and Park E.K. A comparative analysis of entity-relationship diagrams. J. Comput. Softw. Eng., 3(4):427–459, 1995.

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  10. Teorey T.J., Lightstone S.S., and Nadeau T. Database Modeling & Design: Logical Design, 4th edn. Morgan Kauffman, San Francisco, CA, 2005.

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  11. Teorey T.J., Yang D., and Fry J.P. A logical design methodology for relational databases using the extended entity-relationship model. Comput. Surv., 18(12):197–222, 1986.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Il-Yeol Song

  2. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Peter P. Chen

Authors
  1. Il-Yeol Song
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  2. Peter P. Chen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Song, IY., Chen, P.P. (2009). Entity Relationship Model. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_148

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