Logical

Once the building blocks of the business model have been identified through conceptual modeling (entities, attributes, and relationships), logical modeling begins. However, there is no strict distinction between the elements used in logical and conceptual designs. In fact, many database design textbooks do not differentiate between the two, combining them into a single style and tackling them in a single step.

This book takes a different approach—distinguishing between conceptual and logical modeling, not due to the elements or their notation but due to the natural flow of the design process. Because database textbooks are geared towards a technical audience, many lose sight of the less technical participants of database modeling: the business users.

Although a logical model can express everything that a conceptual one can, it also includes a great deal of technical detail, which may alienate those team members who lack the foundation to make sense of it. In the...