Rebuild & Blank-Page Drills
Part II — 12 Three-Minute Rebuilds
Without notes:
- Draw Requirements → CDM → LDM → PDM and annotate what precision is added at each step.
- Draw Entity → Relationship → Attribute → Domain and define each.
- Build key taxonomy from memory: construction on one side, function on the other.
- Create all five domain forms and one original example each.
- Rebuild all six modeling schemes and one recognition clue each.
- Draw a dimensional fact in the center with dimensions around it; label grain and SCD ORC.
- Rebuild 1NF → 2NF → 3NF → BCNF → 4NF → 5NF.
- Draw a supertype with two subtypes and explain inheritance, generalization, specialization.
- Rebuild the forward-engineering CDM/LDM/PDM build-step lists.
- Rebuild forward vs reverse engineering side by side.
- Build a physical-design decision page: views, partitions, denormalization, surrogate keys, indexes.
- Rebuild governance: standards → design reviews → version/change control → Scorecard → maintenance.
Rebuild Answer Skeleton
A strong reconstruction should include:
- CDM: scope, concepts, vocabulary;
- LDM: detailed tech-independent entities/attributes/domains/keys;
- PDM: technology-specific implementation;
- key construction: simple/composite/compound; key function: super/candidate/primary/alternate/business/surrogate;
- domain: type/format/list/range/rule;
- schemes: relational/dimensional/OO/fact-based/time-based/NoSQL;
- SCD: overwrite/row/column;
- normalization: atomic → whole key → nothing but key; higher forms recognition;
- engineering: requirements down vs existing DB up;
- governance: rulebook → checkpoint → history → measure → ongoing currency.
Part III — Six Five-Minute Blank-Page Reconstructions
B1 — Full Chapter Skeleton
Reconstruct:
definition/drivers → components → schemes → levels → normalization/abstraction → activities → tools → best practices → governance/metrics.
B2 — Complete Key Vocabulary
Teach every key type without notes and create one business example for each. Include a key that has multiple simultaneous classifications.
B3 — Dimensional Section
Teach fact, dimension, grain, SCD types, conformed dimension/fact, star/snowflake. Include one changed-fact example that switches an SCD answer.
B4 — Model Levels
Teach CDM vs LDM vs PDM and give at least three details that would disqualify a model from each higher abstraction level. Add canonical model as the data-in-motion exception.
B5 — Requirements to Maintained Implementation
Explain how modeling moves from requirements to CDM/LDM/PDM, review, implementation, lineage, reverse engineering when needed, change control, and maintenance.
B6 — The Two Bad Simplifications
Teach why “normalize everywhere” and “denormalize everywhere” are both wrong. Separate logical integrity from justified physical optimization.
Self-score
For each blank-page reconstruction: - 0 = cannot start; - 1 = labels only; - 2 = correct structure but weak explanations; - 3 = accurate explanations + examples + changed-fact distinctions.
Any 0–1 becomes a repair target.