Logical and Physical Design

Systems Design
Systems design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements.

Logical Design
The logical design of a system pertains to an abstract representation of the data flows, inputs and outputs of the system. This is often conducted via modeling, using an overabstract (and sometimes graphical) model of the actual system. In the context of systems design are included.

Physical Design
The physical design relates to the actual input and output processes of the system. This is laid down in terms of how data is input into a system, how it is verified/authenticated, how it is processed, and how it is displayed as output. Physical design, in this context, does not refer to the tangible physical design of an information system. To use an analogy, a personal computer's physical design involves input via a keyboard, processing within the CPU, and output via a monitor, printer, etc. It would not concern the actual layout of the tangible hardware, which for a PC would be a monitor, CPU, motherboard, hard drive, modems, video/graphics cards, USB slots, etc. it involve detail design of user and a product database structure processing and control processor .The H/S personal specification a develop for the proposed system .

Logical Design Phase

Logical design the translation of business user requirements into a system model that depicts only the business requirements and not any possible technical design or implementation of those requirements. Common synonyms include conceptual design and essential design.

Physical Design & Integration Phase

Physical design the translation of business user requirements into a system model that depicts a technical implementation of the users business requirements. Common synonyms include technical design or implementation model.
Two extreme philosophies of physical design
Design by specification physical system models and detailed specification are produced as a series of written (or computer-generated) blueprints for construction. Design by prototyping Incomplete but functioning applications or subsystems (called prototypes) are constructed and refined based on feedback from users and other designers.

Logical vs. Physical Models

Logical model - a pictorial representation that depicts what a system is or does.
Physical model - a technical pictorial representation that depicts what a system is or does and how the system is implemented.