The document discusses conceptual database design. It describes conceptual design as involving two parallel activities: conceptual schema design and transaction/application design. The conceptual schema design focuses on describing entities, data types, relationships and constraints independent of any specific database management system (DBMS). It aims to completely understand the database structure, meaning, and interrelationships. The conceptual schema provides a valuable high-level description of the database that should not be affected by choices of DBMS or data decisions. Common approaches to conceptual schema design include the centralized approach that merges all user requirements into a single schema, and the view integration approach that designs schemas for each user group and then combines them. Top-down, bottom-up, and mixed strategies can be used for