Systems and Database Design

Assignment 1: Normalisation and E-R Modelling

Assignment Marks: Not Applicable, Exemplar Only (normally worth 20% of unit)
Due Date: Not Applicable, Exemplar Only (normally due at start of week 6)

Background Information
This assignment tests your knowledge and understanding of the two database design techniques we
have covered in this unit – Normalisation and Entity-Relationship Modelling. Both techniques aim to
identify and organise a set of data in an efficient manner that minimises redundancy and establishes
the structure of related groups of data. These are important first steps in constructing databases.

The assignment consists of four tasks, focusing on normalisation and entity-relationship modelling.
Attempt all questions, and be sure to show all relevant stages/working and state any assumptions.

The presentation of your solutions/document and use of correct notation is taken into consideration.

A Note Regarding Assumptions

It is not possible to define every single aspect of all systems in the assignment brief, nor is it beneficial
to attempt this. Part of the process of completing the assignment tasks is making (and declaring)
assumptions that define any ambiguous or unspecified details in the scenarios. It is up to you to make
these assumptions, but feel free to discuss them with your tutor if you are uncertain of their validity.
The tutorial of Module 1 (recording available on unit site) discusses assumptions.

There is no “universally correct” set of assumptions for the tasks. Think about the problem, and make
assumptions as you encounter the need for them. All assumptions should affect or be
enforced/implemented by your database design, and they should not contradict something that is
specified in the assignment brief. Your assumptions are unlikely to have a major impact upon the task
or the resulting database structure – if they do, seek advice from your tutor.

The most common assumptions are likely to regard identifying irrelevant or derived data (Tasks 1 and
2), or the cardinality of relationships between entities (all tasks). Some assumptions may make a task
easier, but avoid always making assumptions that make the task easier, as this is a questionable
practise and is likely result in a solutions that do not demonstrate a deep understanding. Always
remember to clearly state all assumptions you make.

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 1

Task 1 – Normalisation 1 (5 marks)
The table below shows part of a spreadsheet used to keep track of student enrolment in units.

Student Number Student Name Unit Code Unit Name

0972343 Eric Cartman CSG1207 Systems & Database Design
0972343 Eric Cartman CSI2441 Application Development
2013442 Stan Marsh CSI2441 Application Development
0982342 Kyle Broflowski CSG1207 Systems & Database Design
0982342 Kyle Broflowski CSI2441 Application Development

A student can be enrolled in many units and a unit can have many students enrolled in it.

Normalise this data to the third normal form, clearly showing the stages of 0NF, 1NF, 2NF and 3NF.
State any assumptions you make. Use relational symbolic notation as indicated in the second lecture,
and name your resultant data sets upon reaching 3NF.

Take heed of the following tips and reminders:

• There are several valid ways to normalise this data, leading to almost identical solutions.
• This scenario only allows for one repeating group, i.e. R1 = (Outer Group {Repeating Group}).
Not all groups of logically related attributes will begin in its own repeating group, e.g.
A repeating group may contain attributes that will later be split into different relations.

Include a physical E-R diagram of your normalised results. Remember to state any assumptions
regarding the cardinality of the relationships in the diagram.

Tip: Email your work to your tutor at least once while working on your assignment,
so that they can give you advice and feedback on it.

This will help you to improve your work (and your mark)!

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 2

Task 2 – Normalisation 2 (5 marks)
The form below depicts a form used to record details of a meeting and who attended it.

Meeting Attendance Form

Meeting Number: 5896 Date / Time: 07/09/13 14:00 Room: 13A

Project Code: DV201 Project Title: WestCorp Mining CMS

Meeting Topic: Weekly Project Status Meeting

Attendees
Staff Number Staff Name
10524 Troy Buzzwood
19457 Sam Oxford
13584 Peter Sockington
16433 Jane Eltroin
15784 Jess Partian
13468 Harry Knobs
15548 Michael Hunt

Duration of Meeting: 1hr 10m

Normalise this data to the third normal form, clearly showing the stages of 0NF, 1NF, 2NF and 3NF.
State any assumptions you make. Use relational symbolic notation as indicated in the second lecture,
and name your resultant data sets upon reaching 3NF.

Include a physical E-R diagram of your normalised results. Remember to state any assumptions
regarding the cardinality of the relationships in the diagram.

Tip: Remember to regularly check the discussion boards on the unit site
throughout the semester for extra information, examples, and assignment tips!

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 3

Task 3 – Entity-Relationship Modelling 1 (5 marks)
You have been hired to design a database system for a medical clinic named Bewell Medical Clinic
(BMC). The database must keep track of the patients, doctors, appointments, medicines and
prescriptions. You have the following information about the way the clinic operates:

• BMC must store patient details, including name, date of birth, address and phone.

• BMC stores the name, date of birth, qualifications, address and phone of their doctors.

• When patients make an appointment, the date/time of it must be stored, as well as a

description of the reason for the appointment, the doctor who they will see, and the room
that it will be in.

• For billing purposes, BMC wishes to store the names and associated costs of all appointment
types – e.g. short consultation, long consultation, short consultation (pensioner), long
consultation (pensioner).

• BMC wishes to store details of the medicines it stocks – they wish to record the name of the
medicine and its manufacturer, and the cost (to patients) per dose.

• During an appointment, the doctor can make a prescription of one or more medicines to the
patient. This must be recorded.
o Medicines can only be prescribed during an appointment – hence, the doctor who
prescribed it and the patient it is for can be determined via the appointment details.

Based on the details above, you are required to draw both a logical E-R diagram for this database and
then a corresponding physical E-R diagram. Clearly show all cardinality, primary and foreign keys,
attributes and relationships as appropriate.

Adhere to the distinctions between logical and physical E-R diagrams defined in Lecture 3.
Use enhanced E-R model notation where/if appropriate.

Remember to state any assumptions you make.

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Task 4 – Entity-Relationship Modelling 2 (5 marks)
The clinic from Task 3 now requires you to update and expand the previous database you designed
for them to record some additional information. You must update and expand your E-R diagrams from
Task 3 to incorporate these new requirements:

• Some patients develop a preference for a specific doctor, so BMC wants the patient’s
preferred doctor to be recorded in the patient details.

• Prescriptions of medicines made during appointments sometimes involve a number of doses

or special instructions. The number of doses and instructions must be recorded.

• To simplify the ordering of medicines, BMC wishes to record the contact number and the
name of the sales representative for the manufacturers of medicines.

• Not all rooms in the clinic are equal – some have equipment that others do not.
In order to select an appropriate room for appointments, BMC needs to store room details
with more detail. This involves:
o Storing a list of rooms – the room number and the access code needed to unlock the
room must be recorded.

o Storing a list of equipment – simply the name of the pieces of equipment (e.g.
ultrasound machines, ventilators, insulin pumps...) need to be recorded.

o Recording which rooms contain which equipment – the clinic may own several
pieces of the same equipment, hence one piece of equipment can be in many
rooms, and one room can contain many pieces of equipment.

Create updated and expanded versions of your logical and physical E-R diagrams from Task 3 that
incorporate these new requirements. You should not need to modify very much from your solution
to Task 3 to complete this task; you mainly need to expand the diagrams by adding the new attributes,
entities and relationships.

Remember to state any assumptions you make, use enhanced E-R model notation where/if
appropriate, and show cardinality on both diagrams. Ensure that you submit separate solutions to
Tasks 3 and 4 – a total of four E-R diagrams.

Note: This database design will form the basis of your second assignment, so be
sure to dedicate some time to it and take any feedback you receive into account.

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 5

Presentation and Notation
The presentation of your solutions/document and use of correct notation are considered when
marking. Presentation includes the layout and formatting of your assignment – the consistent use of
styles, neat and legible diagrams, ensuring your name and student number is in the document, etc.

Notation must be used correctly and consistently in both your normalisation and E-R diagrams. Some
notation only applies to normalisation or E-R diagrams. When working through the normal forms, use
correct numbering of relations and use strikethrough to indicate where a relation is split into multiple
relations. Please use diagramming software to create E-R diagrams.

Adhere to the notation used in the unit materials wherever possible. If unable to do so for some
reason, make sure that whatever notation you use is consistently applied and clearly represents the
meaning of what you are depicting. Include a key or legend if necessary.

Please submit your assignment as a single PDF document, and open the PDF file before submitting it
to ensure that your diagrams appear as intended and can be clearly read. Marks will be lost for
submissions that include separate files for diagrams, diagrams that are not clear enough to evaluate,
or diagrams that require additional software to open/view.

Submission of Deliverables
Once your assignment is complete, submit the file to the appropriate location in the Assignments area
of the unit site. Your submission should consist of a single PDF document.

Submissions via email or hard copies are NOT permitted, unless you are specifically instructed to do
so. An assignment cover sheet is not required, but ensure that the first page of the document includes
the unit code, year and semester, and your name and student number.

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 6

Academic Integrity and Misconduct
The entirety of your assignment must be your own work (unless otherwise referenced) and produced
for the current instance of the unit. Any use of unreferenced content you did not create constitutes
plagiarism, and is deemed an act of academic misconduct. All assignments will be submitted to
plagiarism checking software which includes previous copies of the assignment, and the work
submitted by all other students in the unit.

Remember that this is an individual assignment. Never give anyone any part of your assignment –
even after the due date or after results have been released. Do not work together with other students
on individual assignments – you can help someone by explaining a concept or directing them to the
relevant resources, but doing any part of the assignment for them or alongside them, or showing them
your work is inappropriate. An unacceptable level of cooperation between students on an assignment
is collusion, and is deemed an act of academic misconduct. If you are uncertain about plagiarism,
collusion or referencing, simply contact your tutor, lecturer or unit coordinator.

You may be asked to explain and demonstrate your understanding of the work you have submitted.
Your submission should accurately reflect your understanding and ability to apply the unit content.

Assignment Marking Key

Marks are allocated as follows for this assignment.

Criteria Marks Allocated

Task 1 - Normalisation 1
Table normalised into suitable 3NF structure. Working shown and correct notation used. All 5
assumptions stated and final data sets named. Physical E-R diagram is accurate.

Task 2 - Normalisation 2
Form normalised into suitable 3NF structure. Working shown and correct notation used. 5
Assumptions stated and final data sets named. Physical E-R diagram is accurate.

Task 3 - Entity-Relationship Modelling 1

Specifications translated into suitable and well-presented logical and physical E-R diagrams. 5
Relationships, cardinality, attributes and keys all clearly depicted. All assumptions stated.

Task 4 - Entity-Relationship Modelling 2

Specifications translated into suitable and well-presented logical and physical E-R diagrams. 5
Relationships, cardinality, attributes and keys all clearly depicted. All assumptions stated.

Total: 20

Exemplar CSG1207 Assignment Page 7