Is the ERD a guide to class Diagrams?

[sleek01]

hi friends,
Database designers use ERD and crows-foot notation diagram when designing database. But if you are designing the Business layer and the client from UML using class diagrams, should you use database guy's ERD and crows-foot as a guide?

I was told Business layer developers has their own design and they don't follow database guys' design diagrams, infact the business layer developers dont even get to see the database model instead he get to see is inputs and output of stored procedures. i just want to confirm it!

[Helmut Ortmann]

Hi,

the best way of defining which method to use is to know the modeling goals of now and of the future.

ERD is well suited for the focus of data and databases.

Class diagrams have a more general approach. You can make a lot of different things with them. They also support a lot of what ERDs support. But not all. In effect they are different and have different approaches.

If you understand ERDs it's no great deal to understand Class diagrams, and vice versa.

Helmut