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Documenting Your Changes in an ERD

NREC has made changes to data objects (Configuring the House and Opportunity Entities) and has added a virtual business component (Creating a Virtual Business Component). These changes should be documented in an Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD).

Figure 28 shows the NREC Entity Relationship Diagram. This is a sketch of the relationships between data objects. In Siebel Tools you can create a true ERD that is stored in the database.

Figure 28.  NREC Entity Relationship Diagram

To create an entity relationship diagram

1. In the Object Explorer, select the Entity Relationship Diagram object type.
2. Right-click and then choose New Record. Enter the values as shown in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Name	NREC House ERD
   Project	NREC Configuration
   Status	Scope

3. Right-click on the record and then choose Edit Entity Relationship Diagram.

   The Entity Relationship Diagram Canvas appears.

4. Drag and drop entity shapes from the palette to the canvas. Use Figure 28 as a guide. You need seven entity shapes.
5. Click on the canvas background to deselect any shapes.

   In the Entities list, all seven entities (from Entity0 to Entity6) are listed.

6. Edit the Entity information to name each one and bind it to a business component as shown in the following table.

   Entity	Name	Business Component
   Entity0	House Renovations (VBC)	NREC Renovations VBC
   Entity1	House (Product)	Internal Product
   Entity2	Appraisals	Appraisals
   Entity3	Buying Interest	Opportunity
   Entity4	Activity Plan	Activity Plan
   Entity5	Contact	Contact
   Entity6	Independent Agency (Partner)	Account Home Search

7. Add relationship lines (1:1, 1:M, or M:M) to all entities, using Figure 28 as a guide.

   Attach the left side of the line to an entity, and wait for the line to redisplay to show its endpoints. Then you can connect the right side of the line to the next entity. The lines start off as straight lines, directly connecting from one entity to another. They do not reshape themselves to avoid other lines or entities. In a later step you can adjust the shapes of the lines to improve the legibility of the diagram.

8. For each relationship line, bind its relationship.
   1. Right-click a relationship line and choose Bind Entity Relation.

      The Bind Relationships window opens.

   2. Select a relationship and then click OK. If there are multiple relationships possible, look carefully at the business components and tables listed and select the most appropriate pairing. If no relationships are listed, then there is no link or join between the business components.

      When the relationship binds, the line thickness increases.

9. (Optional) Improve legibility by reshaping the relationship lines.
   1. Select a relationship line.
   2. Add a reshaping point by pressing Ctrl+A.
   3. Move the reshaping point as needed to adjust the line.
   4. Repeat Step b and Step c as needed.
10. Edit relationship line names.
    1. In the Object Explorer, select Entity Relation (child of Entity Relationship Diagram).
    2. Adjust the column display to show the Name, Entity 1, and Entity 2 columns.
    3. Edit the name of each relationship line to indicate the names of both entities.
    4. Keep the names short to improve legibility. Use abbreviations or a single word to indicate each entity. For example, with the Independent Agency (Partner) link to Real Estate Agent, use the name Partner - Agent.
11. Redisplay the ERD.
    1. In the Object Explorer select the Entity Relationship Diagram object.
    2. Select the NREC House ERD record.
    3. Right-click on the record and then choose Edit Entity Relationship Diagram.

       The Entity Relationship Diagram Canvas appears.

When done, the entity relationship diagram should resemble Figure 29.

Figure 29.  NREC Entity Relationship Diagram in Siebel Tools

For more information on entity relationship diagrams, read Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications.