Entity relation diagrams (ERD) show the structure of your database by visualizing tables (entities), their columns (attributes), and the relationships between them. It helps you understand how data is organized and how different objects are connected at the schema level.
In Dawiso, ERDs focus on the physical and logical structure of databases, tables, keys, and references. This is different from data lineages, which shows how data flows between systems, transformations, reports, and KPIs over time. Both views are complementary: ERD explains the model (“How is this data structured and how are tables related?”), lineage explains the movement (“Where does this data come from and where does it go?”).
Benefits and use cases
ERDs are typically used by data engineers, data modelers, analysts, and governance teams who need a clear view of database structure.
Common use cases include:
- Understanding an unfamiliar schema or onboarding to a new system
- Exploring relationships between business objects such as products, customers, and orders
- Validating primary and foreign key design
- Supporting impact analysis before schema changes
- Helping business users and analysts navigate complex databases visually
By providing an immediate graphical overview, ERDs reduce the time needed to interpret table structures and make it easier to communicate database design across technical and non-technical teams.
Key features
Visual tables and relationships
Each table is displayed as a separate object with a list of columns. Lines between tables represent relationships defined by foreign keys, making dependencies easy to follow at a glance.
Color‑coded data types
Every column shows its data type using color‑coded labels. This allows you to immediately distinguish between numeric fields, text fields, timestamps, identifiers, and other types without opening detailed metadata. It helps quickly assess column semantics and spot inconsistencies in modeling.
Primary and foreign key indicators
Primary keys (PK) and foreign keys (FK) are clearly marked next to the corresponding columns. This makes it easy to:
- Identify table identifiers
- Understand parent-child relationships
- Trace reference paths across multiple tables
Together, these features provide a clean and intuitive way to explore database structure directly in Dawiso and connect technical design with governance, documentation, and impact analysis workflows.
ERD-specific actions
Add a new object
In the left navigation in edit mode, switch to All objects. From the list, you can drag and drop objects from the same application into the diagram to add them to the view.