Data modeling occurs at three levels—physical, logical, and conceptual.

A physical model is a schema or framework for how data is physically stored in a database.

A conceptual model identifies the high-level, user view of data.

A logical data model sits between the physical and conceptual levels and allows for the logical
representation of data to be separate from its physical storage.

Stages of Data Models

Majorly, there are three levels of data modeling, namely:

Conceptual data model

Logical data model

Physical data model

Conceptual Data Model

This data model identifies the most high-level relationships among different entities. It defines WHAT a
system contains and is typically designed by data architects and business stakeholders. The primary goal
is to define the scope and organize business rules and concepts.

It focuses on establishing entities, their relationships, and attributes. In conceptual data modeling, there
are no details available related to the actual database structure. The three fundamental tenants of this
data model include:

Entity, attribute n relationship

Logical Data Model

This data model design defines HOW a system must be implemented, without factoring in how it would
be physically implemented in the DBMS. Typically, it is created by business analysts and data architects.
The aim is to develop data structures and a technical map of rules.

A logical data model helps add additional information to the conceptual model elements. It illustrates
data elements’ structure while establishing the relationship between them. This data model offers a
great benefit of providing a strong foundation to form the base of a physical data model. However, the
basic modeling structure continues to be generic.

Features of Logical Data Model

It helps describe data requirements for one project but can be integrated with various other data
models based on the project scope.

The model is developed and designed separately from the DBMS.

Data attributes have data types with accurate length and precision.

At this level, no key (primary or secondary) is defined and you must adjust and verify the connector
details, which were set before for relationships.

Physical Data Models

This data model represents database-specific implementation and an application of the logical data
model. It assists inin generating schema and offers database abstraction. This happens due to the
richness of meta-data offered by a physical data model.

Features of Physical Data Model

This data model assists in visualizing database structure. It facilitates to model the constraints, database
columns keys, triggers, indexes, and characteristics of various Relational Database Management Systems
(RDBMS).

A physical database model describes data required for one application or project that can also