Dictionary definition(s) for: data model

• n., The product of the database design process which aims to identify and organize the required data logically and physically. A data model says what information is to be contained in a database, how the information will be used, and how the items in the database will be related to each other.
  [ Computer and Information Sciences - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC) ]
  FOLDOC: Free Online Dictionary of Computing. http://foldoc.org/.
• n., A grammar of metadata language; a formalized world view that provides a context for metadata by defining the structural relationships between different types of elements and sometimes by characterizing the things to which the elements refer.
  [ General Dictionaries - "The SCHEMAS Forum - a Retrospective Glossary." ]
  Forum for Metadata Schema Implementers. "The SCHEMAS Forum - a Retrospective Glossary." UK Office for Library and Information Networking. http://www.schemas-forum.org/info-services/d74.htm#1.
• n., An abstract model of some real-world situation or domain of interest about which information is to be held in a database and which the logical schema for that database encodes. The term data model (or data modeling method) is also used for a set of logical abstractions employed in constructing such a model.
  [ Computer and Information Sciences - A Dictionary of Computing ]
  A Dictionary of Computing. Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of British Columbia. 4 August 2006 http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t11.e1238