We propose a notion of a proper Ehresmann semigroup based on a three-coordinate description of its generating elements governed by certain labelled directed graphs with additional structure. The generating elements are determined by their domain projection, range projection and σ-class, where σ denotes the minimum congruence that identifies all projections. We prove a structure result on proper Ehresmann semigroups and show that every Ehresmann semigroup has a proper cover. Our covering monoid turns out to be isomorphic to that from the work by Branco, Gomes and Gould and provides a new view of the latter. Proper Ehresmann semigroups all of whose elements admit a three-coordinate description are characterized in terms of partial multiactions of monoids on semilattices. As a consequence, we recover the two-coordinate structure result on proper restriction semigroups.
