Convert Chen ER Diagram to Crow's Foot ERD

Help|Tutorials|ERD|Diagramming| 30 June 2023 | Dusan Rodina - softwareideas.net
This tutorial will guide you on how to convert a Chen Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) to a Crow's Foot ERD using Software Ideas Modeler. One of the key features of this process is that the original Chen ER Diagram is preserved and a new diagram in Crow's Foot notation is created. The Crow's Foot notation allows you to add more detailed information to your ER diagram, such as attribute types, which is not possible with the Chen notation.

Steps

1. Open your Chen ER Diagram in Software Ideas Modeler

Click on File in the top menu and then the Open item. Navigate your Chen ER diagram in the project tree and open it.

ERD Chen Diagram (Example)
ERD Chen Diagram (Example)

2. Navigate to the Diagram tab

Once your Chen ER Diagram is open, navigate to the Diagram tab in the software ribbon.

3. Access the Convert Diagram function

In the Diagram tab, find the Editing group. You will see a dropdown button labeled Convert Diagram.

4. Convert Chen ERD to Entity-Relationship Diagram

Click on the Convert Diagram button, which will show a menu. From this menu, select Convert Chen ERD to Entity-Relationship Diagram. This will initiate the conversion process, creating a new Crow's Foot ER Diagram while preserving the original Chen ER Diagram.

How to convert Chen ERD to Crow's Foot Entity-Relationship Diagram
How to convert Chen ERD to Crow's Foot Entity-Relationship Diagram

5. Specify attribute types in the new diagram

The Chen ERD does not include attribute types, and these have to be specified in the converted diagram manually. Once your new Crow's Foot ER Diagram is created, you can add more details to it by specifying attribute types for each entity.

Crow's Foot ERD (Converted diagram)
Crow's Foot ERD (Converted diagram)

And that's it! You have successfully created a new Crow's Foot ER Diagram from a Chen ER Diagram using Software Ideas Modeler.

Conclusion

Being able to convert between different types of ER diagrams allows you to better understand and communicate your data models. The Software Ideas Modeler makes this process easy with its straightforward interface and powerful tools, while also preserving your original diagrams. Furthermore, by transitioning to the Crow's Foot notation, you can add more detail to your ER diagrams, improving their comprehensiveness and usefulness.

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