What is meant by a conceptual model?

A conceptual model in data modeling is a high-level representation of organizational data, outlining the system’s entities and the relationships between them. It’s designed to be technology-agnostic, focusing on the business concepts rather than the technical details of how the data will be stored or manipulated¹²³.

Here are some key points about conceptual models:

• Entities and Relationships: It identifies the key entities within a business and the relationships between them.
• High-Level View: Provides an overview of the system without getting into the specifics of implementation.
• Platform-Independent: The model does not concern itself with database management systems or storage methodologies, which are considered in later stages.
• Business Focus: Aimed at understanding and solving business problems, supporting business processes, and meeting business requirements¹².

Conceptual models often use entity-relationship diagrams (ERD) or object-role models (ORM) to visually represent the data structure. They serve as a foundational blueprint that guides the development of more detailed logical and physical data models⁴.

(1) What is a conceptual data model? With examples! | Gleek | Gleek. https://www.gleek.io/blog/conceptual-data-model.html.
(2) What is Conceptual Data Modeling? | IderaBlog. https://blog.idera.com/database-tools/conceptual-data-modeling.
(3) 3 Examples of Conceptual Data Models | ThoughtSpot. https://www.thoughtspot.com/data-trends/data-modeling/conceptual-data-model-examples.
(4) Conceptual Data Modeling | erwin, Inc.. https://www.erwin.com/learn/conceptual.aspx.