What is the term for the process of reading an existing database schema and producing a clear, high-level data model from it for documentation or redesign?

Introduction / Context:
When teams inherit a database without good documentation, they often need to derive a conceptual or logical model from the implemented schema. This helps stakeholders understand entities, relationships, and constraints before making improvements. The industry term for this is reverse engineering.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The physical schema already exists with tables, keys, and constraints.
• Documentation is incomplete or outdated.
• Goal is to produce an understandable model for analysis and redesign.

Concept / Approach:

Reverse engineering extracts metadata (tables, columns, PKs, FKs), analyzes naming patterns and dependencies, and maps them into a logical model (entities, attributes, relationships). This model describes what the system represents rather than how it is physically implemented.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

Cross-check the inferred model by sampling data and confirming cardinalities and optionalities match business rules.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Data modeling and database design are forward-looking activities; here we start from an existing schema and derive the model, which is reverse engineering.

Common Pitfalls:

Mistaking naming conventions for real business rules; failing to validate inferred relationships with actual users and data.

Final Answer:

reverse engineering.