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ERD Symbols and Meanings

ERD Symbols and Meanings
Crow's foot notation is used in Barker's Notation, Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) and information engineering. Crow's foot diagrams represent entities as boxes, and relationships as lines between the boxes. Different shapes at the ends of these lines represent the cardinality of the relationship.
The Chen's ERD notation is still used and is considered to present a more detailed way of representing entities and relationships.
To create an ERD, software engineers mainly turn to dedicated drawing software, which contain the full notation resources for their specific database design - ERD symbols and meanings. CS Odessa has released an all-inclusive Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution for their powerful drawing program, ConceptDraw DIAGRAM.
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

Entity Relationship Diagram Symbols

Entity Relationship Diagram Symbols
Creating an entity-relationship (ER) model is to visually represent the structure of a business database, where data equates to entities (or objects) that are linked by defined relationships expressing dependencies and requirements. By nature it is an abstract visualization, the first step in the design process towards creating a logical and functional database.
ERD symbols used for professional ERD drawing are collected in libraries from the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM.
The vector stencils library "ERD, Chen's notation" contains 13 ERD elements.
Use it for drawing ER-diagrams using Chen's notation in the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution from the Software Development area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Entity
Entity, entity,
Weak entity
Weak entity, weak entity,
Relationship
Relationship, relationship,
Identifying Relationship
Identifying Relationship, identifying relationship,
Associative Entity
Associative Entity, associative entity,
Participation
Participation,
Optional participation
Optional participation,
Recursive Relationship
Recursive Relationship,
Attribute
Attribute, attribute,
Key attribute
Key attribute, key attribute,
Weak key attribute
Weak key attribute, weak key attribute,
Derived attribute
Derived attribute, derived attribute,
Multivalue attribute
Multivalue attribute, multivalue attribute,
Used Solutions
The vector stencils library "ERD, Chen's notation" contains 13 ERD elements.
Use it for drawing ER-diagrams using Chen's notation in the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution from the Software Development area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Entity
Entity, entity,
Weak entity
Weak entity, weak entity,
Relationship
Relationship, relationship,
Identifying Relationship
Identifying Relationship, identifying relationship,
Associative Entity
Associative Entity, associative entity,
Participation
Participation,
Optional participation
Optional participation,
Recursive Relationship
Recursive Relationship,
Attribute
Attribute, attribute,
Key attribute
Key attribute, key attribute,
Weak key attribute
Weak key attribute, weak key attribute,
Derived attribute
Derived attribute, derived attribute,
Multivalue attribute
Multivalue attribute, multivalue attribute,
Used Solutions

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. As such, it is instrument in strategy formulation and selection. SWOT analysis is a method of strategic planning which identifies the factors internal and external environment of the firm and divides them into 4 categories: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The ConceptDraw DIAGRAM and MINDMAP software allow professional to make well-designed SWOT matrix in minutes.

Notation & Symbols for ERD

The ER diagram is constructed from the specific ERD graphic elements. There are used 2 types of ERD notations: Chen and Crow's Foot.
A complete set of work flow shapes, notation & symbols for ERD, entity relationship stencils, included in Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software, makes drawing diagrams based on ERD notation as smooth as possible.
This SWOT matrix diagram example was created on the base of article "An Easy Way To Jumpstart Your Strategic Plan: SWOT" by Leslie Wolf from the website of the California Digital Library, the University of California. "Strategic planning doesn’t have to be a daunting and lengthy process. The goal is really a simple one: to help you understand your world and build a road map to guide your efforts. ...
This analysis tool can help you focus your attention on the specific success factors that are right for your team.
The tool is called a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Here’s what it means:
(1) Strengths are those positive internal attributes that strengthen your business or team. You can develop plans to capitalize on those strengths.
(2) Weaknesses are those negative internal attributes that are working against your success. You can shore up those weaknesses so they don’t stop your success.
(3) Opportunities are those external conditions that can have a positive effect on your goals. These opportunities can point you in the right direction.
(4) Threats are those external conditions that can have a negative effect on your goals. These threats will affect you less if you can identify and minimize them. ...
We thought it would be helpful to show you a sample SWOT analysis for a business you can easily visualize: a small independent bookstore in a university town. The store owner brought the team together to think about how the bookstore could survive during the continuing financial downturn. After an hour of brainstorming, this is the SWOT analysis they developed." [cdlib.org/ cdlinfo/ 2010/ 09/ 29/ an-easy-way-to-jumpstart-your-strategic-plan-swot/ ]
The matrix diagram example "SWOT analysis for a small independent bookstore" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the SWOT Analysis solution from the Management area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
SWOT matrix
SWOT matrix, SWOT analysis,
Used Solutions