When balancing Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) and Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs), what do data stores and some external entities become in an ERD?

In the context of Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) and Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs), data stores and some external entities are accurately represented as entities in an ERD. This is because data stores in a DFD represent collections of data that can be modeled as entities in ERD, which are central components in defining the structure of data within a system.

In an ERD, entities are fundamental objects or things that can have data stored about them, and they typically correspond to what is represented as a data store in a DFD. For example, a customer or product that exists as a data store in a DFD can be clearly defined as an entity in an ERD, with specific attributes that describe it.

The transformation from DFD terms to ERD terms emphasizes the relationship between data flow and how those flows relate to entities in a database structure. Thus, recognizing data stores and some external entities as entities in an ERD ensures a cohesive understanding of how data is organized and managed in relational databases.