What is the difference between logical data model and conceptual data model?

Question

What is the difference between logical data model and conceptual data model?

Answer 1

These terms are unfortunately overloaded with several possible definitions. According to the ANSI-SPARC "three schema" model for instance, the Conceptual Schema or Conceptual Model consists of the set of objects in a database (tables, views, etc) in contrast to the External Schema which are the objects that users see.

In the data management professions and especially among data modellers / architects, the term Conceptual Model is frequently used to mean a semantic model whereas the term Logical Model is used to mean a preliminary or virtual database design. This is probably the usage you are most likely to come across in the workplace.

In academic usage and when describing DBMS architectures however, the Logical level means the database objects (tables, views, tables, keys, constraints, etc), as distinct from the Physical level (files, indexes, storage). To confuse things further, in the workplace the term Physical model is often used to mean the design as implemented or planned for implementation in an actual database. That may include both "physical" and "logical" level constructs (both tables and indexes for example).

When you come across any of these terms you really need to seek clarification on what is being described unless the context makes it obvious.

For a discussion of these differences, check out Data Modelling Essentials by Simsion and Witt for example.

Answer 2

Logical Database Model

Logical database modeling is required for compiling business requirements and representing the requirements as a model. It is mainly associated with the gathering of business needs rather than the database design. The information that needs to be gathered is about organizational units, business entities, and business processes.

Once the information is compiled, reports and diagrams are made, including these:

ERD–Entity relationship diagram shows the relationship between different categories of data and shows the different categories of data required for the development of a database. Business process diagram–It shows the activities of individuals within the company. It shows how the data moves within the organization based on which application interface can be designed. Feedback documentation by users.

Logical database models basically determine if all the requirements of the business have been gathered. It is reviewed by developers, management, and finally the end users to see if more information needs to be gathered before physical modeling starts.

Physical Database Model Physical database modeling deals with designing the actual database based on the requirements gathered during logical database modeling. All the information gathered is converted into relational models and business models. During physical modeling, objects are defined at a level called a schema level. A schema is considered a group of objects which are related to each other in a database. Tables and columns are made according to the information provided during logical modeling. Primary keys, unique keys, and foreign keys are defined in order to provide constraints. Indexes and snapshots are defined. Data can be summarized, and users are provided with an alternative perspective once the tables have been created.

Physical database modeling depends upon the software already being used in the organization. It is software specific. Physical modeling includes:

Server model diagram–It includes tables and columns and different relationships that exist within a database. Database design documentation. Feedback documentation of users.

Summary:

1.Logical database modeling is mainly for gathering information about business needs and does not involve designing a database; whereas physical database modeling is mainly required for actual designing of the database. 2.Logical database modeling does not include indexes and constraints; the logical database model for an application can be used across various database software and implementations; whereas physical database modeling is software and hardware specific and has indexes and constraints. 3.Logical database modeling includes; ERD, business process diagrams, and user feedback documentation; whereas physical database modeling includes; server model diagram, database design documentation, and user feedback documentation.

Read more: Difference Between Logical and Physical Database Model | Difference Between | Logical vs Physical Database Model http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/software-technology/difference-between-logical-and-physical-database-model/#ixzz3AxPVhTlg

Answer 3

Conceptual Schema - covers entities and relationships. Should be created first. Contrary to some of the other answers; tables are not defined here. For example a 'many to many' table is not included in a conceptual data model but is defined as a 'many to many' relationship between entities.

Logical Schema - Covers tables, attributes, keys, mandatory role constraints, and referential integrity with no regards to the physical implementation. Things like indexes are not defined, attribute types should be kept logical, e.g. text instead of varchar2. Should be created based on the conceptual schema.

Answer 4

logical data model

A logical data model describes the data in as much detail as possible, without regard to how they will be physical implemented in the database. Features of a logical data model include: · Includes all entities and relationships among them. · All attributes for each entity are specified. · The primary key for each entity is specified. · Foreign keys (keys identifying the relationship between different entities) are specified. · Normalization occurs at this level. conceptual data model

A conceptual data model identifies the highest-level relationships between the different entities. Features of conceptual data model include: · Includes the important entities and the relationships among them. · No attribute is specified. · No primary key is specified.

Answer 5

This is an old question and maybe this comes way too late, but I don't see one very important aspect necessary to answering the question. That is, the TARGET audience for the data model. The Conceptual Data Model is the model generated from business analysis, from interviews with the BUSINESS about their data. It is not so much "high level" as it is the business's understanding of their data, business rules captured in the relationships between "candidate" entities. At this point, you are capturing the things of importance to the business (Employee, Customer, Contract, Account, etc.) and the relationships between them. The final Conceptual Data Model may be somewhat abstract -- for instance, treating Individuals and Organizations entering into a contract as subtypes of a "Party", Contractors and Permanent Employees as subtypes of an Employee, even Employees and Customers subtypes of "Person" -- but it is a document that a data modeler develops from discussions with the business SMEs and presents to the business for validation.

The Logical Data Model is not just "more detail" -- where useful and important, a Conceptual Data Model may well have attributes included -- it is the ARCHITECTURE document, the model that is presented to the software analysts/engineers to explain and specify the data requirements. It will resolve many-to-many relationships to association tables and will define all attributes, with examples and constraints, so that code can be written against the architecture.

The Physical model is that Logical Model generated specifically for a particular environment, such as SQL Server or Teradata or Oracle or whatever. It will have keys, indexes, partitions, or whatever is needed to implement, based on sizing, access frequency, security constraints, etc.

So, if you are being asked to develop a Conceptual Data Model, you are being asked to design the solution (or part of it) from scratch, getting your information from the business. There's more to it, but I hope that answers the question.

Answer 6

I need to produce both a logical model and a conceptual model. All the explanations here are really vague. The link posted above just shows the difference being that a conceptual model is a logical model without fields. Ok fine, I don't mention the name of the database. It appears to be totally redundant.

I really don't know what 'semantic' means. can someone explain what I would do differently using 'english' and possibly post a link to better examples than a picture that shows one picture that has fields and one that does not. The buzzwords are all well and good, but its so vague its not useful to practically implement.

do I do anything other than take my logical model (which is basically my physical model reversed engineered out of the DB, click a button in said tools and the images look a little different and then take off the data types).

From what i can practically see (and without buzzwords)

physical model: actually tables. The little pictures have data types in them and named pk/fk constraints Logical Model: click the little button my tool (using Oracles SQL Developer Data Modeller, I dont have an erwin license and 2010 visio no longer reverse engineers out of the DB), and then the images on the screen change slightly. The data types are gone and the names of the constraints are gone, then the colors of the table representations changes to purple (so now I call them entities).

ok. so what would my Conceptual model look like other then: exact same thing as my logical model minus the fields. I would think there is more to it than this. Reciting that its a 'semantic' representation of data sounds real nice and fancy, but doesn't make sense to someone who has not made one of these before.