Mapping ER Diagram to a Relational

Database
Step 1:- Map the strong entities in the ER diagram.

M1 — For strong entities — create a new table

(relation)for each strong entity and make the
indicated key of the strong entity the primary key of
the table. If more than one candidate key is indicated
on the ER diagram, choose one as the primary key for
the table.
• M1a — Mapping atomic attributes from an entity — For
entities with atomic attributes: Map entities to a table
(relation) by forming columns from the atomic attributes for
that entity.

• M1b — For entities with composite attributes, form columns

from the elementary (atomic) parts of the composite
attributes.
• M1c — For multi-valued attributes, form a separate table for
the multi-valued attribute. Include the primary key from the
original table. The key of the new table will be the
 Step 2-Map the weak entities in the ER diagram.

• M2 — For Weak Entities — Develop a new table for

each weak entity. As is the case with the strong
entity, include the attributes in the table using rules
M1a, M1b, and M1c. To relate the weak entity to its
owner, include the primary key of the owner entity in
the weak table as a foreign key. The primary key of
the weak table will be the partial key in the weak
entity concatenated to the key of the owner entity.
 Step 3 -Map the binary M:N relationships.

• M3a — For binary M:N relationships — For each M:N

relationship, create a new relation with the primary keys of
each of the two entities (owner entities) that are being
related in the M:N relationship. The key of this new relation
will be the concatenated keys of each of the two owner
entities. Include any attributes that the M:N relationship may
have in this new relation.
 Step 4-Map the binary 1:1 relationships

• M3b-For binary 1:1 relationships: Include the primary key of

Entity A into Entity B as the foreign key.
The question is: which is EntityA and which is EntityB? This question is answered in
the next three mapping rules: M3b_1, M3b_2, and M3b_3.

• M3b_1 -For binary 1:1 relationships, if one of the sides has

full participation in the relationship, and the other has partial
participation, then store the primary key of the side with the
partial participation constraint on the side with the full
participation constraint. Include any attributes of the
relationship on the side that gets the primary key (the primary
key now becomes the Foreign key in the new relation).
• M3b_2- For binary 1:1 relationships, if both sides have partial
participation constraints, there are three alternative ways to
implement a relational database:

• M3b_2a -First alternative — you may select either one of the

relations to store the key of the other (and live with some null
values).

• M3b_2b — Second alternative: depending on the semantics

of the situation, you can create a new table to house the
relationship that would contain the key of the two related
entities
• M3b_2c — Third alternative: create a new
table with just the keys from the two tables in
addition to the two tables. In this case we
would map the relations as we did in the
binary M:N case; and if there were any null
values, these would be left out of the linking
table
• M3b_3 — For binary 1:1 relationships, if both sides
have full participation constraints, you can use the
semantics of the relationship to select which table
should contain the key of the other. It would be
inappropriate to include foreign keys in both tables
as you would be introducing redundancy in the
database. Include any attributes on the relationship,
on the table that is getting the foreign key. This
situation may be better handled using the new table
rule M3a
 Step 5: Map the binary 1:N relationships
• For each 1:* binary relationship, the entity on the ‘one side’ of
the relationship is designated as the parent entity and the
entity on the ‘many side’ is designated as the child entity. To
represent this relationship, post a copy of the primary key
attribute(s) of parent entity into the relation representing the
child entity, to act as a foreign key
 Step 6: Map recursive relationships.

• M5 — For recursive entities, two types of mapping rules

have been developed:

• M5a — For 1:N recursive relationships, reinclude the primary

key of the table with the recursive relationship in the same
table, giving the key some other name.
• M5b — For M:N recursive relationships,
create a separate table for the relationship (as
in mapping rule M3a).
 Step 7: Map n-ary (higher than binary)
relationships.
• M6 — For n -ary relationships — For each n –ary
relationship, create a new table. In the table, include
all attributes of the relationship. Then include all keys
of connected entities as foreign keys and make the
concatenation of the foreign keys the primary key of
the new table.
 Step 8: Map generalizations/specializations.

• M7 — For each generalization/specialization entity situation,

create one table for the generalization entity and create one
table for each specialization entity. Put the attributes for each
entity in the corresponding table. Add the primary key of the
generalization entity into the specialization entity. The
primary key of the specialization will be the same primary key
as the generalization