database design for a CMS

They have: 426 posts

Joined: Feb 2005

Im trying to design the database for my cms that im building for my college project. However i just cant figure out how i should document it.

The first that springs to mind is SSADM however it seems rather much for my simple CMS. Is there any other way i can prove that my entities are not many-many relationships and justify my design?!

JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

benf wrote: The first that springs to mind is SSADM however it seems rather much for my simple CMS.

Yes, that seems a little too involved! Particularly if that's part of a larger project, there would be a lot of overlap with other documentation. I usually use Entity-Relationship diagrams (the crows feet notation), they're usually enough for me. Here's another good example.

As this is a college project they probably want more. Can you use normalisation here at all? Am not sure how you would write down a proof that an entity is normalised, you could perhaps use the normal forms as checkpoints: 'the entity is in first normal form because...'

Sorry I can't be of more help, it's a while since I was in College. Smiling

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Thanks jeeves, i suspected that ERD and normalisation would be enough, perhaps a description of the why i chose certain fields.

JeevesBond's picture

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benf wrote: i suspected that ERD and normalisation would be enough, perhaps a description of the why i chose certain fields.

Cool! Glad to hear it. Good luck with the assignment. Smiling

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Done a nice normalization up to 3rd normal form and an entity ERD diagram and it actually proved me wrong about my design - it is worth it after all.

Thanks for the help. That link really helped me.

JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

Wow, it's great that it worked. I always hate doing theory that doesn't help with the practice (if you see what I mean).

benf wrote: Thanks for the help. That link really helped me.

No problem, glad to be of help. Smiling

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