Conceptual Model Notions – A Matter of Controversy: Conceptual Modelling and its Lacunas

The conception of a conceptual model is differently defined in Computer Science and Engineeringas well as in other sciences. There is no common notion of this conception yet. The same is valid for the understanding of the notion of model. One notion is: A model is a well-formed, adequate, and dependable instrument thatrepresents origins and functions in some utilisation scenario. The conceptual model of an information system consists of a conceptual schema and of a collection of conceptual views that are associated (in most cases tightly by a mapping facility) to the conceptual schema. In a nutshell, a conceptual model is an enhancement of a model by concepts from a concept(ion) space. The variety of notions for conceptual model is rather broad. We analyse some of the notions, systematise these notions, and discuss essential ingredients of conceptual models. This discussion allows to derive a research program in our area.