Discussion: Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Creation
Prior to beginning work on this interactive assignment, read the Fundamentals of Relational Database Design, Entity Relationship Diagram, Ten Common Database Design Mistakes, and 10 Best Practices in Database Schema Design online resources, and review any relevant information in this week's lecture.
Carefully review the instructions for the Week Six Database Design Project assignment including the ISM641 Database Design Project: Business Rules document that includes the entities and attributes information. This will become part of your final assignment in the course.
Analyze the user needs as laid out in the Business Rules document . Access your Virtual Lab and use Visio to create an entity-relationship diagram (ERD) from the entities and attributes listed for the ConstructCo Database Project. Your ERD must include the following.
• Identify all entities and attributes
• Define all relationships between entities (including proper relation semantics)
• Select the appropriate data types for each of the attributes
• Identify your primary keys
In your written initial post explain the process you have selected in order to build the ERD and any challenges you might have experienced. List any tips that might be helpful to anyone planning to build an ERD. Discuss how you selected the different data types for your attributes and what considerations to take into account when selecting data types. Describe how you selected your primary keys for each of the tables and whether other attributes could have been selected as primary keys. Finally, review the benefits of using a database-agnostic tool like MS Visio versus the ERD building tools already available with most Relational Database Management System (RDBMS).
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.