Modeling N-ary data relationships in CASE environments

An extended approach is presented for modeling data relationships that involve multiple entities. This approach unifies the different relationship cardinality values defined by existing approaches into a common framework and extends the types of values captured. A concise tabular notation for specifying such values is introduced. The result is a modeling technique that captures more completely the nature of data relationships. We define a set of rules for identifying inconsistencies within the definition of a given data relationship and indicate how these rules can be applied within CASE tools for data modeling. We conclude that our extended approach together with appropriate automated support can aid in modeling complex data relationships