Skip to content
Vol. I · No. 251
Mon · 8 Jun
A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data
The Lexicon

005·14

logical data model

/ˈlɒdʒ.ɪ.kəl ˈdeɪ.tə ˈmɒd.əl/ - n.

1 [colloq.] The clean diagram approved at kickoff, preserved unchanged precisely because the database stopped resembling it in week two.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. A technology-independent representation of entities, attributes, and relationships that captures business meaning before physical implementation.

Filed
See also
  • canonical data modelThe one true model every system maps to, plus the per-system exceptions that quietly restore the chaos it replaced.
  • physical data modelWhat was actually built, which the logical model has agreed never to look at directly.
  • schema designAn afternoon of careful structure followed by two years of columns named after the ticket that demanded them.