Logical Modeling › Attributes

Attributes

Once you define the entities in your model, you can begin to define the specific attributes that you want to track for each entity. For example, in a CUSTOMER entity you can define customer attributes such as customer name, customer address, and customer phone number.

When you create a relationship in a logical model, you can specify that either a primary key attribute or an alternate key attribute of the parent entity migrates into the child entity as a foreign key. By default, all properties of the primary key or the alternate key migrate to the foreign key in the child entity. You can also select which primary key or alternate key attribute properties migrate with the foreign key for each relationship in your model.

While the identification of non-unique keys is not required in the logical model, it is useful for capturing user requirements for physical data access. These non-unique key groups can then be indexed in the physical model to improve the performance of queries.

You can use on-diagram editing of attribute properties. You can also review, move, copy, and modify attribute properties using the Model Explorer.