A data model is an ActionScript object that contains properties that you use to store application-specific data. Communication between an Adobe® Flex® application and the server is required only to retrieve data not yet available to the Flex application and to update a server-side data source with new data from the Flex application.

You can use a data model for data validation, and it can contain client-side business logic. You can define a data model in MXML or ActionScript. In the model-view-controller (MVC) design pattern, the data model represents the model tier.

When you plan an application, you determine the kinds of data that the application must store and how that data must be manipulated. This helps you decide what types of data models you need. For example, suppose you decide that your application must store data about employees. A simple employee model might contain name, department, and e-mail address properties.