ignores details of structure and implementation
Answers the questions:
why is a database needed?
what goes into the database?
what form is the data needed in?
who needs to access the data?
how is the database updated? (i.e. where do updates come from?)
lay out data structure(s) and relationships
design data access points (how do we get at the data?)
design application interface
how data is stored, indexed, updated, and retrieved
data can be distributed across multiple systems
data can be accessed interactively or through scripts (ex: SQL)
scripts can be stored as part of the database, or in application programs
application programs must follow design rules of database