Data Model

Data Model gives us an idea that how the final system will look like after its complete
implementation. It defines the data elements and the relationships between the data
elements. Data Models are used to show how data is stored, connected, accessed and
updated in the database management system. Here, we use a set of symbols and text to
represent the information so that members of the organization can communicate and
understand it. Though there are many data models being used nowadays but the Relational
model is the most widely used model. Apart from the Relational model, there are many
other types of data models about which we will study in details in this blog. Some of the
Data Models in DBMS are:

1. Hierarchical Model

2. Network Model

3. Entity-Relationship Model

4. Relational Model

Hierarchical Model
Hierarchical Model was the first DBMS model. This model organizes the data in the
hierarchical tree structure. The hierarchy starts from the root which has root data and then
it expands in the form of a tree adding child node to the parent node. This model easily
represents some of the real-world relationships like food recipes, sitemap of a website
etc. Example: We can represent the relationship between the shoes present on a shopping
website in the following way:
Features of a Hierarchical Model

1. One-to-many relationship: The data here is organized in a tree-like structure where

the one-to-many relationship is between the datatypes. Also, there can be only one
path from parent to any node. Example: In the above example, if we want to go to
the node sneakers we only have one path to reach there i.e through men's shoes
node.

2. Parent-Child Relationship: Each child node has a parent node but a parent node
can have more than one child node. Multiple parents are not allowed.

3. Deletion Problem: If a parent node is deleted then the child node is automatically
deleted.

4. Pointers: Pointers are used to link the parent node with the child node and are used
to navigate between the stored data. Example: In the above example the ' shoes '
node points to the two other nodes ' women shoes ' node and ' men's shoes ' node.

Advantages of Hierarchical Model

• It is very simple and fast to traverse through a tree-like structure.

• Any change in the parent node is automatically reflected in the child node so, the
integrity of data is maintained.
Disadvantages of Hierarchical Model

• Complex relationships are not supported.

• As it does not support more than one parent of the child node so if we have some
complex relationship where a child node needs to have two parent node then that
can't be represented using this model.

• If a parent node is deleted then the child node is automatically deleted.

Network Model
This model is an extension of the hierarchical model. It was the most popular model
before the relational model. This model is the same as the hierarchical model, the only
difference is that a record can have more than one parent. It replaces the hierarchical tree
with a graph. Example: In the example below, we can see that node student has two
parents i.e. CSE Department and Library. This was earlier not possible in the hierarchical
model.
Features of a Network Model

1. Ability to Merge more Relationships: In this model, as there are more relationships
so data is more related. This model has the ability to manage one-to-one
relationships as well as many-to-many relationships.

2. Many paths: As there are more relationships so there can be more than one path to
the same record. This makes data access fast and simple.

3. Circular Linked List: The operations on the network model are done with the help
of the circular linked list. The current position is maintained with the help of a
program and this position navigates through the records according to the
relationship.

Advantages of Network Model

 • The data can be accessed faster as compared to the hierarchical model. This is
because the data is more related in the network model and there can be more than
one path to reach a particular node. So the data can be accessed in many ways.

• As there is a parent-child relationship so data integrity is present. Any change in

parent record is reflected in the child record.

Disadvantages of Network Model

• As more and more relationships need to be handled the system might get complex.
So, a user must be having detailed knowledge of the model to work with the model.

• Any change like updating, deletion, insertion is very complex.

Entity-Relationship Model
Entity-Relationship Model or simply ER Model is a high-level data model diagram. In
this model, we represent the real-world problem in the pictorial form to make it easy for
the stakeholders to understand. It is also very easy for the developers to understand the
system by just looking at the ER diagram. We use the ER diagram as a visual tool to
represent an ER Model. ER diagram has the following three components:

• Entities: Entity is a real-world thing. It can be a person, place, or even a

concept. Example: Teachers, Students, Course, Building, Department, etc are some
of the entities of a School Management System.

• Attributes: An entity contains a real-world property called attribute. This is the

characteristics of that attribute. Example: The entity teacher has the property like
teacher id, salary, age, etc.

• Relationship: Relationship tells how two attributes are related. Example: Teacher
works for a department.
Example:

In the above diagram, the entities are Teacher and Department. The attributes
of Teacher entity are Teacher_Name, Teacher_id, Age, Salary, Mobile_Number. The
attributes of entity Department entity are Dept_id, Dept_name. The two entities are
connected using the relationship. Here, each teacher works for a department.

Features of ER Model

• Graphical Representation for Better Understanding: It is very easy and simple to

understand so it can be used by the developers to communicate with the
stakeholders.

• ER Diagram: ER diagram is used as a visual tool for representing the model.

• Database Design: This model helps the database designers to build the database
and is widely used in database design.

Advantages of ER Model
 • Simple: Conceptually ER Model is very easy to build. If we know the relationship
between the attributes and the entities we can easily build the ER Diagram for the
model.

• Effective Communication Tool : This model is used widely by the database

designers for communicating their ideas.

• Easy Conversion to any Model : This model maps well to the relational model and
can be easily converted relational model by converting the ER model to the table.
This model can also be converted to any other model like network model,
hierarchical model etc.

Disadvantages of ER Model

• No industry standard for notation: There is no industry standard for developing an

ER model. So one developer might use notations which are not understood by other
developers.

• Hidden information: Some information might be lost or hidden in the ER model.

As it is a high-level view so there are chances that some details of information might
be hidden.

Relational Model
Relational Model is the most widely used model. In this model, the data is maintained in
the form of a two-dimensional table. All the information is stored in the form of row and
columns. The basic structure of a relational model is tables. So, the tables are also
called relations in the relational model. Example: In this example, we have an Employee
table.
Features of Relational Model

• Tuples : Each row in the table is called tuple. A row contains all the information
about any instance of the object. In the above example, each row has all the
information about any specific individual like the first row has information about
John.

• Attribute or field: Attributes are the property which defines the table or relation.
The values of the attribute should be from the same domain. In the above example,
we have different attributes of the employee like Salary, Mobile_no, etc.

Advantages of Relational Model

• Simple: This model is more simple as compared to the network and hierarchical
model.

• Scalable: This model can be easily scaled as we can add as many rows and columns
we want.

• Structural Independence: We can make changes in database structure without

changing the way to access the data. When we can make changes to the database
structure without affecting the capability to DBMS to access the data we can say
that structural independence has been achieved.
Disadvantages of Relational Model

• Hardware Overheads: For hiding the complexities and making things easier for the
user this model requires more powerful hardware computers and data storage
devices.

• Bad Design: As the relational model is very easy to design and use. So the users
don't need to know how the data is stored in order to access it. This ease of design
can lead to the development of a poor database which would slow down if the
database grows.

But all these disadvantages are minor as compared to the advantages of the relational
model. These problems can be avoided with the help of proper implementation and
organization.