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ERD Symbols and Meanings

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a popular software engineering tool for database modeling and illustration the logical structure of databases, which uses one of two notations - Chen's or Crow’s Foot. Crow's foot notation is effective when used in software engineering, information engineering, structured systems analysis and design. Each of these notations applies its own set of ERD symbols. Crow's foot diagrams use boxes to represent entities and lines between these boxes to show relationships. Varied shapes at the ends of lines depict the cardinality of a given relationship. Chen's ERD notation is more detailed way to represent entities and relationships. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM application enhanced with all-inclusive Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution allows design professional ER diagrams with Chen's or Crow’s Foot notation on your choice. It contains the full set of ready-to-use standardized ERD symbols and meanings helpful for quickly drawing, collection of predesigned ERD samples, examples and templates. ConceptDraw Pro is a great alternative to Visio for Mac users as it offers more features and can easily handle the most demanding professional needs.
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
How to Build an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

Entity Relationship Diagram Symbols

The semantic modeling method nowadays is successfully applied in database structure design. It is effective method of modeling the data structures, which is based on the meaning of these data. As a tool of semantic modeling, there are used different types of Entity-Relationship Diagrams. Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is applied to visually and clearly represent a structure of a business database. The main components of ERDs are: entity, relation and attributes. An entity is a class of similar objects in the model, each entity is depicted in the form of rectangle and has the name expressed by a noun. Relation is shown in the form of non-directional line that connects two entities. There are several notation styles used for ERDs: information engineering style, Chen style, Bachman style, Martin Style. The Entity Relationship Diagram symbols used for professional ERD drawing are predesigned by professionals and collected in the libraries of the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software.

Electrical Symbols — Switches and Relays

In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The mechanism of a switch may be operated directly by a human operator to control a circuit (for example, a light switch or a keyboard button), may be operated by a moving object such as a door-operated switch, or may be operated by some sensing element for pressure, temperature or flow. A relay is a switch that is operated by electricity. Switches are made to handle a wide range of voltages and currents; very large switches may be used to isolate high-voltage circuits in electrical substations. 26 libraries of the Electrical Engineering Solution of ConceptDraw DIAGRAM make your electrical diagramming simple, efficient, and effective. You can simply and quickly drop the ready-to-use objects from libraries into your document to create the electrical diagram.

Basic Flowchart Symbols and Meaning

Flowcharts are the best for visually representation the business processes and the flow of a custom-order process through various departments within an organization. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software extended with Flowcharts solution offers the full set of predesigned basic flowchart symbols which are gathered at two libraries: Flowchart and Flowcharts Rapid Draw. Among them are: process, terminator, decision, data, document, display, manual loop, and many other specific symbols. The meaning for each symbol offered by ConceptDraw gives the presentation about their proposed use in professional Flowcharts for business and technical processes, software algorithms, well-developed structures of web sites, Workflow diagrams, Process flow diagram and correlation in developing on-line instructional projects or business process system. Use of ready flow chart symbols in diagrams is incredibly useful - you need simply drag desired from the libraries to your document and arrange them in required order. There are a few serious alternatives to Visio for Mac, one of them is ConceptDraw DIAGRAM. It is one of the main contender with the most similar features and capabilities.
How to Build a Flowchart
How to Build a Flowchart

Electrical Symbols — Semiconductor

Semiconductors are crystalline or amorphous solids with distinct electrical characteristics. They are of high resistance — higher than typical resistance materials, but still of much lower resistance than insulators. Their resistance decreases as their temperature increases, which is behavior opposite to that of a metal. Finally, their conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by the deliberate, controlled introduction of impurities into the crystal structure, which lowers its resistance but also permits the creation of semiconductor junctions between differently-doped regions of the extrinsic semiconductor crystal. The behavior of charge carriers which include electrons, ions and electron holes at these junctions is the basis of diodes, transistors and all modern electronics. 26 libraries of the Electrical Engineering Solution of ConceptDraw DIAGRAM make your electrical diagramming simple, efficient, and effective. You can simply and quickly drop the ready-to-use objects from libraries into your document to create the electrical diagram.

Mechanical Drawing Symbols

Mechanical Drawings are the special type of technical diagrams that visualize the structure of complex systems and illustrate the information about ventilation, heating, air conditioning, i.e. HVAC systems. These drawings are created on the base of floor plans and reflected ceiling plans, and then become an obligatory part of construction project which is needed directly for construction a building and for receiving a permit on it. Mechanical drawings and diagrams help effectively represent construction, technical and engineering solutions, and also schematics of different mechanical equipment. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM ector drawing software enhanced with Mechanical Engineering solution from Engineering area of ConceptDraw Solution Park provides wide set of effective drawing tools, predesigned mechanical drawing symbols, templates, samples and examples. Use of standardized and recognized mechanical vector symbols helps you design understandable mechanical drawings, diagrams and mechanical engineering schematics.

Electrical Symbols, Electrical Diagram Symbols

When drawing Electrical Schematics, Electrical Circuit Diagrams, Power Systems Diagrams, Circuit and Wiring Diagrams, Digital and Analog Logic Schemes, you will obligatory need the electrical symbols and pictograms to represent various electrical and electronic devices, such as resistors, wires, transistors, inductors, batteries, switches, lamps, readouts, amplifiers, repeaters, relays, transmission paths, semiconductors, generators, and many more. Today these symbols are internationally standardized, so the diagrams designed using them are recognizable and comprehensible by specialists from different countries. Electrical Engineering Solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park provides 26 libraries with 926 commonly used electrical schematic and electrical engineering symbols making the reality the easy drawing of Electrical diagrams, schematics and blueprints. Now you need only a few minutes to create great-looking Electrical diagram, simply choose required electrical design elements from the libraries, drag them on the needed places at the document and connect in a suitable way.

SDL Flowchart Symbols

Drawing the diagrams we try to find in help the powerful software and now we have the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM. The ability easily create the SDL diagrams is made possible thanks to unique Specification and Description Language (SDL) Solution from the Industrial Engineering Area of ConceptDraw Solution Park. This solution extends ConceptDraw DIAGRAM libraries - SDL Connectors and SDL Diagrams that contain 70 predesigned SDL flowchart symbols.

Electrical Symbols — Integrated Circuit

An integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent electronic components. ICs can be made very compact, having up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a human fingernail. 26 libraries of the Electrical Engineering Solution of ConceptDraw DIAGRAM make your electrical diagramming simple, efficient, and effective. You can simply and quickly drop the ready-to-use objects from libraries into your document to create the electrical diagram.

Business Process Flowchart Symbols

Business process modeling is known in the corporate world as an excellent tool which can speak. Business process flowcharts, diagrams and maps are used to define the business processes in terms of inputs and outputs, to visually represent and effectively explain complex business processes of an enterprise, and also showcase decisions on a single piece of paper. The process of business process mapping supposes the use of special business process flowchart symbols predefined by Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and taking their roots from the data processing diagrams and programming flow charts. In other words the BPMN standard notation is a common language used for business process design and implementation, that guarantees a clarity of designed Business Process Flowcharts for all business analysts, technical developers and business managers. The ability to create professionally-looking Business Process flowcharts, maps and diagrams, is provided by powerful ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software and the Business Process Mapping solution included to ConceptDraw Solution Park.

Gane Sarson Diagram

The Gane-Sarson methodology uses the graphical techniques for building the logical models for the systems. It is helpful for analysts and designers to make common and clear picture of the system, to depict all its processes and how they transform the data. The Gane-Sarson methodology lets represent all this information in a way understandable for the users and other interested people, and gives the possibility to see instantly how the system's parts serve together to meet their needs. This methodology supposes the building of a system top-down. First you need create an overall system data flow, then determine the details of the data structures, the process logic and design the modular structures. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software offers the Data Flow Diagrams solution with Gane-Sarson Notation library rich for the specific symbols of the Gane-Sarson notation. All they are vector and fully ready-to-use for drawing the Data Flow Diagrams, which will be then successfully used in presentations, websites, and various business documents.

Electrical Symbols — Rotating Equipment

Electrical rotating machines, such as motors and generators, are vital assets for any power plant or large industrial company. An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The reverse of this would be the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy and is done by an electric generator. In normal motoring mode, most electric motors operate through the interaction between an electric motor's magnetic field and winding currents to generate force within the motor. In certain applications, such as in the transportation industry with traction motors, electric motors can operate in both motoring and generating or braking modes to also produce electrical energy from mechanical energy. 26 libraries of the Electrical Engineering Solution of ConceptDraw DIAGRAM make your electrical diagramming simple, efficient, and effective. You can simply and quickly drop the ready-to-use objects from libraries into your document to create the electrical diagram.

Local area network (LAN). Computer and Network Examples

Local Area Network (LAN) is a network which consists of computers and peripheral devices connected each other and to the local domain server, and covers a little territory or small number of buildings, such as home, school, laboratory, office, etc. LAN serves for few hundreds of users. It includes many cables and wires, and demands to design previously a Network diagram. All local area network devices can use the shared printers and disk storage. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM is a perfect network diagramming software with examples of LAN Diagrams, templates and predesigned vector objects. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM is the ideal choice for network engineers and network designers who need to draw fast and easy Local Area Network Diagrams, for IT specialists, developers and other IT professionals which need to visualize the communication schemes of LAN and visually document the LAN's physical structure and arrangement in houses, offices and other buildings. Ready-to-use vector objects from Computer Network Diagrams solution will help you design LAN diagrams in minutes.
How to Draw a Computer Network
How to Draw a Computer Network

Electrical Symbols — Lamps, Acoustics, Readouts

Wiring and circuit diagrams use special symbols recognized by everyone who uses the drawings. The symbols on the drawings show how components like resistors, capacitors, inductors, switches, lamps, acoustic devices, measuring devices and other electrical and electronic components are connected together. 26 libraries of the Electrical Engineering Solution of ConceptDraw DIAGRAM make your electrical diagramming simple, efficient, and effective. You can simply and quickly drop the ready-to-use objects from libraries into your document to create the electrical diagram.

Swim Lane Flowchart Symbols

Use the set of special professionally developed swim lane flowchart symbols - single, multiple, vertical and horizontal lanes from the Swimlanes and Swimlanes BPMN 1.2 libraries from the Business Process Diagram solution, the Swim Lanes library from the Business Process Mapping solution as the perfect basis for your Swim Lane Flowcharts of processes, algorithms and procedures.

Cisco Multimedia, Voice, Phone. Cisco icons, shapes, stencils and symbols

The ConceptDraw vector stencils library Cisco Multimedia, Voice, Phone contains equipment symbols for drawing the computer network diagrams.

Chemistry Symbols and Meanings

Chemistry solution offers 5 libraries with large collection of vector chemistry symbols and meanings, chemistry equation symbols, organic chemistry symbols, and chemical clipart: Chemical Elements Library, Chemical Drawings Library, Conformations Library, Laboratory Equipment Library, Periodic Table of Chemical Elements Library.

IDEF0 Flowchart Symbols

The modeling of business and business processes is not quite a simple process for both small-size businesses and large businesses. The IDEF0 method is one of the popular and easy methods of modeling the business as a complex system. It is based on the functional modeling language Structured Analysis and Design Technique (abbr. SADT) and is concentrated on the activity modeling. According to this method are constructed the IDEF0 Diagrams and IDEF0 Flowcharts, which are succesfully used not only for documenting the business, but also for analysis, development, integration of information and software systems, reengineering, etc. This method suggests the use of special IDEF0 Flowchart Symbols from the IDEF0 notation for construction the IDEF0 Flowcharts. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector graphic software extended with IDEF0 Diagrams solution from the Software Development area of ConceptDraw Solution Park is rich for the powerful drawing tools, built-in templates and samples, and predesigned IDEF0 flowchart symbols.

HR Flowchart Symbols

Human resources are the people who make up the employee workforce of an organization or company. Human resource management has four basic functions: staffing, motivation, training and development, and maintenance. It is convenient to use the flowcharts to represent various HR processes and workflows. ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software extended with HR Flowcharts solution from the Management area of ConceptDraw Solution Park supplies you with comprehensive selection of predesigned vector HR flowchart symbols and standardized flowchart notation symbols, which allow you to design effectively the eye-catching infographics and diagrams relating to any human resource management process that will be relevant and understood by all business associates. The ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software offers also the set of predesigned flowchart and workflow templates and samples making your drawing process as easy as possible. Use the HR Flowcharts solution to create professional-looking HR Flowcharts and HRM Business Process Diagrams in a matter of moments.

Flowchart Definition

Flowchart definition - A Flowchart is a diagram that graphically represents the structure of the system, the flow of steps in a process, algorithm, or the sequence of steps and decisions for execution a process or solution a problem. For depiction the steps there are used specific shapes and graphic symbols which are linked by lines and directional arrows. The main standard shapes are rectangle or box, rounded box, diamond, circle. A Flowchart is a convenient way to observe the follow the process from beginning to end, it lets improve the work of process, highlight the key elements and detach not essential or even excessive steps. The Flowcharts can represent different levels of detail: High-Level Flowchart, Detailed Flowchart, and Deployment or Matrix Flowchart. They are incredibly useful for programmers when developing the programs of any complexity and on any high level language. Create your own Flowcharts using the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software and powerful tools of Flowcharts solution from "Diagrams" area.