Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram

Model with DBMS Example

What is ER Diagram?
ER Diagram stands for Entity Relationship Diagram, also known as
ERD is a diagram that displays the relationship of entity sets stored
in a database. In other words, ER diagrams help to explain the
logical structure of databases. ER diagrams are created based on
three basic concepts: entities, attributes and relationships.

ER Diagrams contain different symbols that use rectangles to

represent entities, ovals to define attributes and diamond shapes to
represent relationships.

At first look, an ER diagram looks very similar to the flowchart.

However, ER Diagram includes many specialized symbols, and its
meanings make this model unique. The purpose of ER Diagram is
to represent the entity framework infrastructure.

Entity Relationship Diagram Example

What is ER Model?
ER Model stands for Entity Relationship Model is a high-level
conceptual data model diagram. ER model helps to systematically
analyze data requirements to produce a well-designed database.
The ER Model represents real-world entities and the relationships
between them. Creating an ER Model in DBMS is considered as a
best practice before implementing your database.
ER Modeling helps you to analyze data requirements systematically
to produce a well-designed database. So, it is considered a best
practice to complete ER modeling before implementing your
database.

History of ER models
ER diagrams are visual tools that are helpful to represent the ER
model. Peter Chen proposed ER Diagram in 1971 to create a
uniform convention that can be used for relational databases and
networks. He aimed to use an ER model as a conceptual modeling
approach.

Why use ER Diagrams?

Here, are prime reasons for using the ER Diagram

 Helps you to define terms related to entity relationship

modeling
 Provide a preview of how all your tables should connect, what
fields are going to be on each table
 Helps to describe entities, attributes, relationships
 ER diagrams are translatable into relational tables which
allows you to build databases quickly
 ER diagrams can be used by database designers as a
blueprint for implementing data in specific software
applications
 The database designer gains a better understanding of the
information to be contained in the database with the help of
ERP diagram
 ERD Diagram allows you to communicate with the logical
structure of the database to users

Facts about ER Diagram Model

Now in this ERD Diagram Tutorial, let’s check out some
interesting facts about ER Diagram Model:
  ER model allows you to draw Database Design
 It is an easy to use graphical tool for modeling data
 Widely used in Database Design
 It is a GUI representation of the logical structure of a Database
 It helps you to identifies the entities which exist in a system
and the relationships between those entities

ER Diagrams Symbols & Notations

Entity Relationship Diagram Symbols & Notations mainly
contains three basic symbols which are rectangle, oval and
diamond to represent relationships between elements, entities and
attributes. There are some sub-elements which are based on main
elements in ERD Diagram. ER Diagram is a visual representation of
data that describes how data is related to each other using different
ERD Symbols and Notations.

Following are the main components and its symbols in ER

Diagrams:

 Rectangles: This Entity Relationship Diagram symbol

represents entity types
 Ellipses : Symbol represent attributes
 Diamonds: This symbol represents relationship types
 Lines: It links attributes to entity types and entity types with
other relationship types
 Primary key: attributes are underlined
 Double Ellipses: Represent multi-valued attributes

ER Diagram Symbols
Components of the ER Diagram
This model is based on three basic concepts:

 Entities
 Attributes
 Relationships

ER Diagram Examples

For example, in a University database, we might have entities for

Students, Courses, and Lecturers. Students entity can have
attributes like Rollno, Name, and DeptID. They might have
relationships with Courses and Lecturers.

Components of the ER Diagram

WHAT IS ENTITY?
A real-world thing either living or non-living that is easily
recognizable and nonrecognizable. It is anything in the enterprise
that is to be represented in our database. It may be a physical thing
or simply a fact about the enterprise or an event that happens in the
real world.

An entity can be place, person, object, event or a concept, which

stores data in the database. The characteristics of entities are must
have an attribute, and a unique key. Every entity is made up of
some ‘attributes’ which represent that entity.

Examples of entities:

 Person: Employee, Student, Patient

 Place: Store, Building
 Object: Machine, product, and Car
 Event: Sale, Registration, Renewal
 Concept: Account, Course

Notation of an Entity

Entity set
Student

An entity set is a group of similar kind of entities. It may contain

entities with attribute sharing similar values. Entities are
represented by their properties, which also called attributes. All
attributes have their separate values. For example, a student entity
may have a name, age, class, as attributes.

Example of Entities:
A university may have some departments. All these departments
employ various lecturers and offer several programs.

Some courses make up each program. Students register in a

particular program and enroll in various courses. A lecturer from the
specific department takes each course, and each lecturer teaches a
various group of students.

Relationship
Relationship is nothing but an association among two or more
entities. E.g., Tom works in the Chemistry department.

Entities take part in relationships. We can often identify

relationships with verbs or verb phrases.

For example:

 You are attending this lecture

 I am giving the lecture
 Just loke entities, we can classify relationships according to
relationship-types:
 A student attends a lecture
 A lecturer is giving a lecture.

Weak Entities
A weak entity is a type of entity which doesn’t have its key attribute.
It can be identified uniquely by considering the primary key of
another entity. For that, weak entity sets need to have participation.
In above ER Diagram examples, “Trans No” is a discriminator within
a group of transactions in an ATM.

Let’s learn more about a weak entity by comparing it with a Strong

Entity
Strong Entity Set Weak Entity Set
It does not have enough attributes to build a primary
Strong entity set always has a primary key.
key.
It is represented by a rectangle symbol. It is represented by a double rectangle symbol.
It contains a Primary key represented by the It contains a Partial Key which is represented by a
underline symbol. dashed underline symbol.
The member of a strong entity set is called as The member of a weak entity set called as a
dominant entity set. subordinate entity set.
Primary Key is one of its attributes which helps to In a weak entity set, it is a combination of primary
identify its member. key and partial key of the strong entity set.
In the ER diagram the relationship between two The relationship between one strong and a weak
strong entity set shown by using a diamond entity set shown by using the double diamond
symbol. symbol.
The connecting line of the strong entity set with The line connecting the weak entity set for
the relationship is single. identifying relationship is double.

Attributes
It is a single-valued property of either an entity-type or a
relationship-type.

For example, a lecture might have attributes: time, date, duration,

place, etc.
An attribute in ER Diagram examples, is represented by an Ellipse

Types of Attributes Description

Simple attributes can’t be divided any further. For example, a student’s
Simple attribute
contact number. It is also called an atomic value.
It is possible to break down composite attribute. For example, a
Composite attribute student’s full name may be further divided into first name, second name,
and last name.
This type of attribute does not include in the physical database.
However, their values are derived from other attributes present in the
Derived attribute
database. For example, age should not be stored directly. Instead, it
should be derived from the DOB of that employee.
Multivalued attributes can have more than one values. For example, a
Multivalued attribute
student can have more than one mobile number, email address, etc.

Cardinality
Defines the numerical attributes of the relationship between two
entities or entity sets.

Different types of cardinal relationships are:

 One-to-One Relationships
 One-to-Many Relationships
 May to One Relationships
 Many-to-Many Relationships
1.One-to-one:

One entity from entity set X can be associated with at most one
entity of entity set Y and vice versa.

Example: One student can register for numerous courses.

However, all those courses have a single line back to that one
student.

2.One-to-many:

One entity from entity set X can be associated with multiple entities
of entity set Y, but an entity from entity set Y can be associated with
at least one entity.
For example, one class is consisting of multiple students.

3. Many to One

More than one entity from entity set X can be associated with at
most one entity of entity set Y. However, an entity from entity set Y
may or may not be associated with more than one entity from entity
set X.

For example, many students belong to the same class.

4. Many to Many:

One entity from X can be associated with more than one entity from
Y and vice versa.

For example, Students as a group are associated with multiple

faculty members, and faculty members can be associated with
multiple students.
How to Create an Entity Relationship
Diagram (ERD)
Now in this ERD Diagram Tutorial, we will learn how to create an
ER Diagram. Following are the steps to create an ER Diagram:

Steps to Create an ER Diagram

Let’s study them with an Entity Relationship Diagram Example:
In a university, a Student enrolls in Courses. A student must be assigned
to at least one or more Courses. Each course is taught by a single
Professor. To maintain instruction quality, a Professor can deliver only
one course
Step 1) Entity Identification
We have three entities

 Student
 Course
 Professor
Step 2) Relationship Identification
We have the following two relationships

 The student is assigned a course

 Professor delivers a course

Step 3) Cardinality Identification

For them problem statement we know that,

 A student can be assigned multiple courses

 A Professor can deliver only one course

Step 4) Identify Attributes

You need to study the files, forms, reports, data currently
maintained by the organization to identify attributes. You can also
conduct interviews with various stakeholders to identify entities.
Initially, it’s important to identify the attributes without mapping them
to a particular entity.

Once, you have a list of Attributes, you need to map them to the
identified entities. Ensure an attribute is to be paired with exactly
one entity. If you think an attribute should belong to more than one
entity, use a modifier to make it unique.
Once the mapping is done, identify the primary Keys. If a unique
key is not readily available, create one.
Entity Primary Key Attribute
Student Student_ID StudentName
Professor Employee_ID ProfessorName
Course Course_ID CourseName

For Course Entity, attributes could be Duration, Credits,

Assignments, etc. For the sake of ease we have considered just
one attribute.

Step 5) Create the ERD Diagram

A more modern representation of Entity Relationship Diagram
Example

Best Practices for Developing Effective ER

Diagrams
Here are some best practice or example for Developing Effective
ER Diagrams.

 Eliminate any redundant entities or relationships

 You need to make sure that all your entities and relationships
are properly labeled
 There may be various valid approaches to an ER diagram.
You need to make sure that the ER diagram supports all the
data you need to store
 You should assure that each entity only appears a single time
in the ER diagram
 Name every relationship, entity, and attribute are represented
on your diagram
 Never connect relationships to each other
 You should use colors to highlight important portions of the ER
diagram

Summary
 ER Model in DBMS stands for an Entity-Relationship model
 The ER model is a high-level data model diagram
 ER diagrams are a visual tool which is helpful to represent the
ER model
 ER diagrams in DBMS are blueprint of a database
 Entity relationship diagram DBMS displays the relationships of
entity set stored in a database
 ER diagrams help you to define terms related to entity
relationship modeling
 ER Model in DBMS is based on three basic concepts: Entities,
Attributes & Relationships
 An entity can be place, person, object, event or a concept,
which stores data in the database (DBMS)
 Relationship is nothing but an association among two or more
entities
 A weak entity is a type of entity which doesn’t have its key
attribute
 It is a single-valued property of either an entity-type or a
relationship-type
 It helps you to defines the numerical attributes of the
relationship between two entities or entity sets
 ER- Diagram DBMS is a visual representation of data that
describe how data is related to each other
 While Drawing ER diagrams in DBMS, you need to make sure
all your entities and relationships are properly labeled.