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Logical Model Design Validation

Since a data model exposes many of the business rules that describe the area being modeled, reading the relationships helps you validate that the design of the logical model is correct. Verb phrases provide a brief summary of the business rules embodied by relationships. Although they do not precisely describe the rules, verb phrases do provide an initial sense of how the entities are connected.

If you choose your verb phrases correctly, you should be able to read a relationship from the parent to the child using an active verb phrase.

Example:

A PLANE FLIGHT <transports> many PASSENGERs.

Verb phrases can also be read from the perspective of the child entity. You can often read from the child entity perspective using passive verb phrases.

Example:

Many PASSENGERs <are transported by> a PLANE FLIGHT.

It is a good practice to make sure that each verb phrase in the model results in valid statements. Reading your model back to the business analysts and subject matter experts is one of the primary methods of verifying that it correctly captures the business rules.