Conceptual Model

Definitions

European Project Definitions

CIPRNet project

The CIPRNet project uses the following definition:

"A conceptual schema or conceptual data model is a map of concepts and their relationships. This describes the semantics of an organization and represents a series of assertions about its nature. Specifically, it describes the things of significance to an organization (entity classes), about which it is inclined to collect information, and characteristics of (attributes) and associations between pairs of those things of significance (relationships)."

DIESIS project

The DIESIS project gives the following definition:

"A conceptual schema or conceptual data model is a map of concepts and their relationships. This describes the semantics of an organization and represents a series of assertions about its nature. Specifically, it describes the things of significance to an organization (entity classes), about which it is inclined to collect information, and characteristics of (attributes) and associations between pairs of those things of significance (relationships)."

National Definitions

Belgium

Model: een computeralgoritme op basis van wiskundige vergelijkingen die een bepaalde fysische realiteit beschrijven/nabootsen.

Netherlands

Model: abstractie van de werkelijkheid.

United Kingdom (UK)

Model in its broadest sense is a representation of how a system works and can be used to understand how the system will respond to inputs and other changes.

United States

NIST

Model:  A very detailed description or scaled representation of one component of a larger system that can be created, operated, and analyzed to predict actual operational characteristics of the final produced component. (from: FIPS 201-2)