The Logical Data Model

Conceptualizing your business model and the data on which to report

Devising a model of your business data can help you analyze the structure of the data, how its various parts interact, and can also help you decide what you intend to learn from the data.

This chapter describes one of the major components of data modeling: the logical data model. A logical data model is a logical arrangement of data as experienced by the general user or business analyst. This is different from the physical data model or warehouse schema, which arranges data for efficient database use. The logical data model graphically depicts the flow and structure of data in a business environment, providing a way of organizing data so it can be analyzed from different business perspectives.