DMC Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield DMC facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which of the following is a characteristic of a natural key? → It derives its value from business attributes that already exist
2. What does referential integrity enforce in a relational data model? → That a foreign key value must match an existing primary key value in the referenced table
3. What anomaly occurs when inserting new data requires entering dummy or NULL values for unrelated attributes? → Insertion anomaly
4. What does 'data lineage' document? → The origin of data and how it flows and transforms through systems over time
5. Which of the following are NoSQL database technologies? → Neo4j
6. Which of the following tools are commonly used to integrate data modeling into data pipelines? → Apache NiFi
7. In Data Vault modeling, what is the purpose of a Link? → To capture the relationships and associations between two or more Hubs
8. What is the primary goal of a conceptual data model? → To capture high-level business concepts and their relationships independent of technology
9. Which of the following are common elements of an Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD)? → Entities
10. Which modeling artifact is used to document the meaning and origin of a single data element across an enterprise? → Data element definition record
11. What is a recursive (or self-referencing) relationship in data modeling? → A relationship where an entity is associated with instances of itself
12. What is a subtype in data modeling? → A specialized category of a supertype entity that inherits its attributes
13. In logical data modeling, what is the purpose of a business rule? → To capture constraints and policies that govern data and must be enforced by the model
14. What is data lineage, and why is it important in metadata management? → A record of where data originates, how it transforms, and where it moves
15. Which ERD notation style uses rectangles for entities, diamonds for relationships, and ovals for attributes? → Chen notation
16. In an ERD, what does a crow's foot notation symbol at the end of a relationship line represent? → Many (zero or more)
17. In the context of DMC, what does 'domain' mean when applied to an attribute? → The set of all valid values an attribute can hold
18. How does data modeling improve machine learning workflows? → By structuring data for efficient feature extraction
19. Which concept represents a property or characteristic of an entity in a data model? → Attribute
20. What is the purpose of a data catalog in metadata management? → To provide a central repository for metadata
21. What is the role of a tablespace in physical database design? → A storage container that maps database objects to physical disk files or storage devices
22. What is the primary purpose of a data quality scorecard in enterprise data modeling? → To measure and communicate data quality metrics against defined thresholds
23. In IDEF1X notation, what does a solid line between entities represent versus a dashed line? → Solid = identifying relationship; dashed = non-identifying relationship
24. What is denormalization, and when is it appropriate? → Reversing normalization by intentionally adding redundancy to improve read performance
25. Which of the following database systems is relational? → MySQL
26. What does the term 'optionality' refer to in a data model? → Whether a relationship participation is mandatory or optional
27. What are the three levels of data abstraction in the ANSI/SPARC architecture? → External, Conceptual, Internal
28. What is the primary key in a relational database? → A unique identifier for a row in a table.
29. What does cardinality describe in a data model? → The number of instances of one entity related to instances of another
30. Which design artifact maps source data fields to target data model attributes? → Data lineage map / data mapping document