1. A computer-implemented method of managing metadata describing objects of a data abstraction model with logical fields that define abstract views of physical data in a database, comprising: traversing a logical tree structure representing the data abstraction model, the logical tree structure having a plurality of nodes; determining a node type for each node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the node type specifies whether the node is one of a logical field and a category, wherein each category references a set of one or more logical fields, and wherein each of the logical fields is available to include in an abstract query, and wherein each logical field includes an access method specifying a method for accessing data from the database selected from at least two access method types; identifying metadata from the data abstraction model describing the plurality of nodes; storing, for each node of the plurality of nodes, the node type and the identified metadata in a queryable database resident on a storage medium; and processing a query issued against the queryable database to identify one or more of the logical fields in the data abstraction model available to be used to construct the abstract query.