Software Design Center

HOW TO DRAW ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAMS (cont'd)

Tips for Effective ER Diagrams

1) Make sure that each entity only appears once per diagram.

2) Name every entity, relationship, and attribute on your diagram.

3) Examine relationships between entities closely. Are they necessary? Are there any relationships missing? Eliminate any redundant relationships. Don't connect relationships to each other.

4) Use colors to highlight important portions of your diagram.

5) SmartDraw makes it easy to share your software design diagram with others in a business presentation or on the web.

• Export as GIF or JPEG for the web
• Publish to your free SmartDrawNet web space with just one click. Any hyperlinks
• in your drawings become working hyperlinks on the web—and interlinked pages
• become interlinked web sites!
• Export as HTML with working hyperlinks
• Copy & Paste into PowerPoint^® or other Microsoft Office^® Suite programs.

When you paste your diagram into another program (such as PowerPoint^®), you can edit it by simply double-clicking on the diagram in the other program. This opens the diagram in SmartDraw for editing, and your changes will be updated in the other program automatically.

6) Create a polished diagram by adding shadows and color. You can choose from a number of ready-made styles in the Edit menu under Colors and Shadows, or you can create your own.

To hide the shadow on an individual object, go to the Arrange menu and select Hide Shadow.