Database Design Using Entity-Relationship Diagrams clarifies ER diagram design by defining it in terms of requirements (end user requests) and specifications (designer feedback to that request). The book emphasizes how communication between designers and users during design is crucial for the elicitation of targeted data, and for the creation of an understandable ER diagram. The authors describe how to develop an ER diagram, how to map it to a database, and how the resulting database can be tested. This definitive guide is a beneficial component of any database course and is a strong supplement for any database professional unfamiliar with ER design.

This book is intended to be used by database practitioners and students for data modeling. It is also intended to be used as a supplemental text in database courses, systems analysis and design courses, and other courses that design and implement databases. Many present-day database and systems analysis and design books limit their coverage of data modeling. This book not only increases the exposure to data modeling concepts, but also presents a detailed, step-by-step approach to designing an ER diagram and developing the relational database from it.

Data modeling and database design have undergone significant evolution in recent years. Today, the relational data model and the relational database system dominate business applications. The relational model has allowed the database designer to focus on the logical and physical characteristics of a database separately. This book concentrates on techniques for database design, with a very strong bias for relational database systems, using the ER (Entity Relationships) approach for conceptual modeling (solely a logical implementation).