What is a Relationship?
A Relationship defines how two entities are connected. If entities are the nouns of your context graph, relationships are the verbs. Examples:- Customer places Order
- Order contains Product
- Employee works on Project
- Account belongs to Organization
Why Relationships Matter
Without relationships, you only have isolated concepts. With relationships, you can answer questions like:- Which customers bought this product?
- Which invoices belong to this account?
- Who is responsible for this deal?
- How are these two entities connected?
Relationships Bring Meaning to Structure
Entities define what exists. Relationships define how those things interact. Relationships can represent many kinds of connections:- Ownership
- Containment
- Events
- Hierarchies
- Associations
| Source Entity | Relationship | Target Entity |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | places | Order |
| Order | contains | Product |
| Employee | manages | Account |
| Department | includes | Employee |
| Invoice | references | Contract |
Anatomy of a Relationship
Every relationship has a clear structure.1. A Source Entity
The starting point of the relationship. Example: Customer2. A Target Entity
The destination entity. Example: Order3. A Relationship Type
A description of how they connect. Example:- Customer places Order
- Clear
- Directional
- Expressed in plain language
4. Mapping Logic
Just like entities, relationships are grounded in real data. A relationship definition includes:- Which Source fields connect the entities
- Join keys or matching rules
Relationships Power Graph Exploration
Once relationships are defined, you can:- Traverse from one entity to another
- Filter by relationship paths
- Ask questions using chat
- Discover indirect connections
What’s Next
With entities and relationships defined, you have a working context graph. From here you can:- Explore the graph visually
- Ask questions using Chat
- Use Query Explorer to explore entity and relationship definitions
- Analyze logs and artifacts