Entity Relationship Diagram

Entity-Relationship Diagram
An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) is a model that shows the logical
relationship and interaction among system entities.
An ERD provides an overall view of the system and the blueprint for
creating the physical data structures.
A visual representation of different data using conventions that
describe how these data are related to each other.
ER diagrams are frequently used during the design stage of a
development process in order to identify different system elements
and their relationship with each others.
Drawing an ERD
1) List the entities that you identified during the systems analysis
phase and to consider the nature of relationship that link them.
2) Used simplifies method to show the relationship between entities.
3) The entity rectangles are labelled with singular nouns and the
relationship diamonds are labelled with verbs, usually in a top-to-
bottom and left-to-right fashions.
Types of relationship
1) A one-to-one relationship, abbreviated 1:1, exists when exactly one of
the second entity occurs for each instance of the first entity. A number 1 is
placed alongside each of the two connecting lines to indicate the 1:1
relationship.
2) A one-to-many relationship, abbreviated 1:M, exists when one
occurrence of the first entity can relate to many instances of the second
entity, but each instance of the second entity can associate with only one
instance of the first entity.
3) A many-to-many relationship, abbreviated M:N, exists when one instance
of the first entity can relate to many instances of the second entity, and one
instance of the second entity can relate to many instances of the first entity.
 Cardinality
Cardinality describes the
numeric relationship
between two entities and
shows how instances of one
entity relate to instances of
another entity.