1 Open an Entity Relation diagram, either a Model or Subject Area diagram.
Note PDM from ERD subject area and FK (see below) in subject area diagrams are handled specially, depending on whether all parent entities are in the model.
2 Some control over column names may be exercised through Dictionary > Options > Column Name Options.
3 From the Dictionary menu, select Create Data Model > Physical Data Model.
Options in the dialog box are:
Diagram Name
By default, the suggested PDM name is the name of the source ERD
Super/Sub Resolution Method
Separate Tables: A table is created for each entity in the group. Each super/sub relation line is converted to an identifying one-to-one constraint.
Merge Supertype to Subtypes: A table is created for each sub-entity in the group. Each table contains columns representing the attributes in its source sub-entity and in its supertype.
Merge Subtypes to Supertype: A table is created for the supertype. It includes columns for each attribute in the source super-entity and each attribute in every sub-entity.
Prompt for each Super/Sub Group: You are prompted for the resolution method for each super/sub group.
Resolve Non-specific Relations
If the relationship is many to many then an associative table is generated for each non-specific relation. The table name comes from the relation name. An Identifying or Non-Identifying Constraint will be drawn for all other relationships.
Name Mapping on PDM from ERD popup
In the logical model, you can specify physical names for objects in the physical model.
Column names are a property of attribute definitions; this property is automatically completed with the name of the data element when a new attribute is entered in the entity definition.
Entity definitions include properties for the table name and a common prefix for all columns.
Relationship definitions include properties for FK column and FK constraint names.
Options are: map to upper case, map to lower case, initial caps, or retain case.
Note The source name of logical objects is maintained as a property in the physical model objects: entities to tables, columns to attributes and data elements, and indexes to access paths.
_ for Special Characters
Replace special characters (space, quotation mark, slashmark, and so on) with _ (underscore).
If you are generating a PDM for a DBMS that does not accept special characters, System Architect automatically replaces them with underscores, regardless of what you choose for this option.
PDM from ERD subject area and FK
When a PDM is generated from a Subject Area ERD, and an entity on the ERD includes foreign key attributes whose origins are outside of the subject area, columns are formed for the FK attributes, but the columns themselves are not specified as foreign keys in the physical data model.
For example, a subject area ERD contains 2 entities: Customer and Order; the model ERD contains an additional entity, Salesperson, the parent entity of Customer.
Salesperson
Customer
Order
Customer ID [PK]
Order Number [PK]
Salesperson ID [PK]
Salesperson ID [PK][FK]
Physical Data Model
The physical data model has 2 tables: Customer and Order. Salesperson ID is a column in the table Customer, but is not designated FK.