Question

Discuss the function and importance of conceptual modeling.

Answer 1

Discuss the function and importance of conceptual modeling.

A conceptual model should fulfill four fundamental objectives: Enhance understanding of the representative system. Promote efficient conveyance of system details between team members. Provide a point of reference for system designers to gather system specifications.Conceptual model is used as a way to describe physical or social aspects of the world in an abstract way. For example, in the realm of software development, a Conceptual model may be used to represent the relationships of entities within a database. Whether written down via text or diagrammed visually, such a Conceptual model can easily represent abstract concepts of the relationships between objects in the system, such as Users and their relationship to Accounts.

In fact, Conceptual models within a typical software development life cycle are often referred to as Domain model. A domian model is a type of Conceptual model that incorporates representations of both behavior and data at the same time. As illustrated above, this often represents database entities, using simple diagramming techniques to illustrate 1-to-1, 1-to-many, and many-to-many relationships within the system.

Overall, a Conceptual model should fulfill four fundamental objectives:

Enhance understanding of the representative system.

Promote efficient conveyance of system details between team members.

Provide a point of reference for system designers to gather system specifications.

Document the system for future reference.

One of the important purposes of the conceptual model is to provide the prerequisite guidance for the software development task. Both of these requirements place constraints on the format which is used to formulate the conceptual model. Indeed these constraints are, to some extent, conflicting.