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Entity Relationship Diagram

The Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a high-level data model that shows the major entities and relationships, which support a wide business area. This is primarily a presentation or discussion model.

The objective of the ERD is to provide a view of business information requirements sufficient to satisfy the need for broad planning for development of its information system. These models are not very detailed (only major entities are included) and there is not much detail, if any, on attributes. Many-to-many (non-specific) relationships are allowed and keys are generally not included.