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The diagram and the data model are one artefact

In most tools an ERD is a picture of a data model that someone drew and now has to maintain by hand. In Yantra Studio the entities, attributes, keys and relationships are the model. The diagram is a view of it.

Entities, attributes and real relationships

Add an entity and it carries attributes, data types, keys and nullability — not just a label in a box. Relationships record cardinality, and where both ends have columns you pick the specific attributes the relationship joins on, so the model is precise enough to generate DDL from.

Conceptual, logical and physical layers live on their own pages and stay linked, so a change in one is traceable to the others rather than requiring three diagrams to be edited in parallel.

  • Tables, views, entities, concepts, fact and dimension tables
  • One-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many with named join columns
  • Subject areas for slicing a large model into reviewable pieces
  • A bulk editor for changes too tedious to make shape by shape

A metadata repository, not a drawing folder

The Metadata Repository holds the entities your organisation has already agreed on, so the next model starts from what exists instead of from a blank canvas. Subject Areas group them for review, and Normalization checks the structure against normal forms and reports where it departs from them.

Load a model that already exists

Existing schemas rarely start life in a modeling tool. You can import DDL, bring in CSV or Excel, or connect to a live database and read its structure directly, then work forward from the model that is actually deployed.

What this covers in the product

Every capability below is part of this area of Yantra Studio.

  • Entity / Table
  • Metadata Repository
  • Subject Areas
  • Bulk Editor
  • Normalization
  • Import DDL (SQL)
  • Import CSV / Excel
  • Live DB Import

Questions

Can I import an existing database?

Yes — Import DDL (SQL), Import CSV / Excel, or Live DB Import to read the structure from a running database.

Does it support conceptual, logical and physical layers?

Yes. Each is a page with its own model layer, and derived pages stay linked to the page they were generated from.

Is the ERD separate from the diagram?

No. The entities are the model, and the diagram renders them, so editing either keeps the other correct by construction.

Put your architecture under version control

Model it, govern it, and keep it true to the system it describes.