DBST 651 – Requirements Definition Document and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Submission

Project Step #2: Requirements Definition Document and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

Prepare and submit your requirements definition document and entity relationship diagram (ERD) as two separate attachments to  project step #2. Your requirements definition document must be submitted as a DOC/DOCX file and your ERD must be submitted using ER Assistant as an ERD file (or other supported diagramming format; see Project Learning Demonstration). Within your requirements definition document and ERD, the following minimum requirements must be met:

Requirements Definition Document Minimum Requirements:

Entity and Attribute Description (15 points)

For each entity, describe the entity itself as well as each of the attributes of the entity. You must also identify the primary key and any foreign keys. See the Project Learning Demonstration for examples of the entity and attribute descriptions. Note: if you are creating domain-specific attributes that are not common knowledge, you must provide a correspondingly more in-depth description of the entity or attribute.

Relationship and Cardinality Description (15 points)

For each relationship, describe the relationship itself, cardinality, business rules using the description format in the Project Learning Demonstration. To meet this requirement, you need only to describe the relationship that connects two entities one time.

Assumptions and Special Considerations (5 points)

This section should contain detailed descriptions of assumptions you are making about the project and any special considerations such as deviations from the lab project requirements. 

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Minimum Requirements:

Five Entities Minimum, Six Entities Maximum (10 points)

The purpose of the five-entity minimum, six-entity maximum is to establish a relatively small baseline for you to keep the scope of your database project constrained. 

Five Attributes Minimum (10 points)

Each of your entities must have a minimum of five natural attributes which include the primary key. Foreign keys will not count towards the five-attribute minimum requirement. 

Proper Relationships with Crow’s Feet Notation (20 points)

Each entity must be properly related to another using Crow’s Feet notation. Ensure that you properly denote the minimum cardinality and place the correct side of the relationship on the appropriate entity. There must be no many-to-many relationships; if these exist in your design they should be resolved before submitting project part 2.

Primary Key (5 points)

Each entity must have a primary key properly designated in your diagram that can be a natural, surrogate, or composite key.

1. Foreign Keys in Proper Locations (5 points)

All foreign keys should be placed on the appropriate side of the relationship according to your requirements definition documentation. Caveat: If using ER Assistant, be aware that foreign keys are derived implicitly from the relationship itself meaning that adding the foreign keys as actual attributes will result in diagram errors. Consider to add foreign key explicitly and get around the consistency check error by naming it using convention such as FK_parent_pk_col_name.

ERD Matches Requirements Definition (10 points)   

Your diagram must accurately and completely translate the rules/requirements you previously outlined in the requirements definition document. 

Proper Labels and Comments (5 points)

All relationships must be properly labeled with the verb or activity that they represent. From the Project Learning Demonstration, the EMPLOYEE to DEPARTMENT relationship would be labeled with ‘works’. Any other assumptions or special considerations should be placed on your ERD as comments.

Project Step #2 Deliverables

1. Requirements Definition document in Word or PDF: LastName_FirstName_businessrules.[doc|pdf]

ERD in diagram specific format (i.e. .erd or .vsd) or Word/GIF/JPEG/PNG/PDF if using other diagramming tools: LastName_FirstName_ERD.[erd|vsd|pdf|doc|docx|gif|jpeg|png.

Learning Resources

See Project Learning Demonstration posted under Course Content/Hands-on Resources for step-by-step instructions.