PALEONTOLOGICAL data are complex. They involve a wide variety of different classes of information relating physical objects, such as type specimens to all manner of different things including collecting localities, systematic concepts such as a genus, and published statements about stratigraphic or systematic placement. This data model has been designed to describe the structure of information used in invertebrate paleontological museum collections (Appendix IX).The heart of the data model is the concept of Collections Objects. Collections objects are fossils and other such things that make up the material of invertebrate paleontological museum collections. Collections management involves essentially tracking collections objects and maintaining the data that is associated with collections objects. The key data associated with collections objects are their provenance (where and when they came from) and added value data such as what names, if any, have been applied to them, or what publications they have been illustrated in.A data model is a formal description of some set of information. It consists of a picture of the main concepts involved (the Entity-Relationship diagram) and a set of formal written documentation that defines these concepts and their relationships with each other. For an introduction to the concepts and symbols of data models see the references below, or good summaries provided in the ASC and PaleoBank models.