UNIT - II

ER Diagram
An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a visual representation of different
entities within a system and how they relate to each other. For example, the
elements writer, novel, and a consumer may be described using ER
diagrams the following way:

ER Diagram Template for Student Enrollment System

Use of ER Diagrams
What are the uses of ER diagrams? Where are they used? Although they
can be used to model almost any system they are primarily used in the
following areas.

ER Models in Database Design

They are widely used to design relational databases. The entities in the ER
schema become tables, attributes and converted the database schema.
Since they can be used to visualize database tables and their
relationships it’s commonly used for database troubleshooting as well.

Entity relationship diagrams in Software Engineering

Entity relationship diagrams are used in software engineering during the
planning stages of the software project. They help to identify different
system elements and their relationships with each other. It is often used as
the basis for data flow diagrams or DFD’s as they are commonly known.

For example, an inventory software used in a retail shop will have a

database that monitors elements such as purchases, item, item type, item
source and item price. Rendering this information through an ER
diagram would be something like this:

ER diagram example with entity having attributes

In the diagram, the information inside the oval shapes are attributes of a
particular entity.

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Symbols and

Notations
Elements in ER diagrams
There are three basic elements in an ER Diagram: entity, attribute,
relationship. There are more elements which are based on the main
elements. They are weak entity, multi valued attribute, derived attribute,
weak relationship, and recursive relationship. Cardinality and ordinality are
two other notations used in ER diagrams to further define relationships.

Entity
An entity can be a person, place, event, or object that is relevant to a given
system. For example, a school system may include students, teachers,
major courses, subjects, fees, and other items. Entities are represented
in ER diagrams by a rectangle and named using singular nouns.

Weak Entity
A weak entity is an entity that depends on the existence of another entity.
In more technical terms it can be defined as an entity that cannot be
identified by its own attributes. It uses a foreign key combined with its
attributed to form the primary key. An entity like order item is a good
example for this. The order item will be meaningless without an order so it
depends on the existence of the order.

Weak Entity Example in ER diagrams

Attribute
An attribute is a property, trait, or characteristic of an entity, relationship, or
another attribute. For example, the attribute Inventory Item Name is an
attribute of the entity Inventory Item. An entity can have as many attributes
as necessary. Meanwhile, attributes can also have their own specific
attributes. For example, the attribute “customer address” can have the
attributes number, street, city, and state. These are called composite
attributes. Note that some top level ER diagrams do not show attributes for
the sake of simplicity. In those that do, however, attributes are represented
by oval shapes.

Attributes in ER diagrams, Note that an attribute can have its own attributes
(composite attribute)

Multivalued Attribute
If an attribute can have more than one value it is called a multi-valued
attribute. It is important to note that this is different from an attribute having
its own attributes. For example, a teacher entity can have multiple subject
values.

Example of a multivalued attribute

Derived Attribute
An attribute based on another attribute. This is found rarely in ER
diagrams. For example, for a circle, the area can be derived from the
radius.

Derived Attribute in ER diagrams

Relationship
A relationship describes how entities interact. For example, the entity
“Carpenter” may be related to the entity “table” by the relationship “builds”
or “makes”. Relationships are represented by diamond shapes and are
labelled using verbs.

Using Relationships in Entity Relationship Diagrams

Recursive Relationship
If the same entity participates more than once in a relationship it is known
as a recursive relationship. In the below example an employee can be a
supervisor and be supervised, so there is a recursive relationship.

Example of a recursive relationship in ER diagrams

How to Draw ER Diagrams
Below points show how to go about creating an ER diagram.

1. Identify all the entities in the system. An entity should appear only
once in a particular diagram. Create rectangles for all entities and
name them properly.
2. Identify relationships between entities. Connect them using a line
and add a diamond in the middle describing the relationship.
3. Add attributes for entities. Give meaningful attribute names so they
can be understood easily.

ER Diagram Best Practices

1. Provide a precise and appropriate name for each entity, attribute, and
relationship in the diagram. Terms that are simple and familiar always
beats vague, technical-sounding words. In naming entities,
remember to use singular nouns. However, adjectives may be used
to distinguish entities belonging to the same class (part-time
employee and full-time employee, for example). Meanwhile attribute
names must be meaningful, unique, system-independent, and easily
understandable.
2. Remove vague, redundant or unnecessary relationships between
entities.
3. Never connect a relationship to another relationship.
4. Make effective use of colors. You can use colors to classify similar
entities or to highlight key areas in your diagrams.

Benefits of ER diagrams
ER diagrams constitute a very useful framework for creating and
manipulating databases. First, ER diagrams are easy to understand and do
not require a person to undergo extensive training to be able to work with it
efficiently and accurately. This means that designers can use ER diagrams
to easily communicate with developers, customers, and end users,
regardless of their IT proficiency.

Second, ER diagrams are readily translatable into relational tables which

can be used to quickly build databases. In addition, ER diagrams can
directly be used by database developers as the blueprint for implementing
data in specific software applications.
Lastly, ER diagrams may be applied in other contexts such as describing
the different relationships and operations within an organization.

I’ve done my best to cover all you need to know about ER diagrams. If you
think I’ve missed some part make sure to mention that in the comments
sections. It’s a good place to ask questions too.

References
1. Entity-relationship model as published on Wikipedia.
2. Entity Relationship Diagram by Mike Chapple as published on the
About.com website