Relationship

Arc diagram (network connections)

Places nodes along a line and connects linked pairs with arcs.

Diagram
Relationship
Structure

What it answers

Which ordered nodes connect across the sequence?

Shape: Ordered nodes joined by arcs
What it shows: Long-range links and connection patterns.

Example

The question

Which teams hand work to each other most often?

Hand-offs between teams (arc diagram)

Teams sit on a line; arcs join teams that hand work over, thicker for more hand-offs. Sales to Ops (4) is the strongest link, then Sales to Legal and Ops to Support (3 each).

Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.

When to use it

Use it when

Networks with a meaningful node order.

Avoid it when

Arbitrary ordering or too many crossing arcs.

How to read it

Read node order along the baseline and follow connecting arcs.

Note

Node order affects patterns.

The data you need

Layout: Edge list plus node table
Fields: Source: text ID; Target: text ID; optional Weight: number
One row is: One relationship between two nodes. What is the grain?
Rules: Declare directed or undirected links. Handle duplicate edges and self-loops intentionally.
Optional: Separate Nodes table: NodeID,Label,Type. Include isolated nodes there.
Preparation: Resolve node identities and endpoint joins; define direction and duplicate/self-link handling. Aggregate weights only under a stated relationship or flow definition.
Units: Unweighted links encode presence. Weights need a unit; flow shares divide by stated source, destination or network totals, not an assumed common denominator.

An edge list: one row per link, from one node to another, often with a node table beside it.

Worked example

Ordered nodes A, B, C, D with linksA-B and A-D create a short arc and a long arc. Arc length reflects order separation.

Source	Target
A	B
A	C
B	C

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