- 7 minutes to read

Add or manage Domain

Empower your organization with clear accountability and process visibility by creating and managing Domains in Nodinite. This guide shows you how to create reusable organizational swimlanes that bring clarity to your business process models.

✅ Map organizational structure to integration processes
✅ Create reusable domain swimlanes across multiple BPMs
✅ Document ownership with custom metadata
✅ Deliver instant clarity on who owns what in your processes
✅ Work efficiently in the BPM Designer with pre-defined domains

This guide teaches how to add or manage a Domain.

Tutorial overview

Use the following table as your to-do list for managing Domains. Domains are lightweight organizational swimlanes—quick to create and reusable across all your Business Process Models.

# Topic
1. Add or Manage Domain
2. Name and Describe the Domain
3. Enrich with Custom Metadata
4. Use in BPM Designer

Step 1: Add or Manage Domain

Click the Add/New button to create a new Domain from the Domain Overview page in the Repository menu.
Add New Domain Button
Click the 'Add Domain' button to create a new Domain.

Step 2: Name and Describe the Domain

Give your Domain a clear, descriptive name that represents an organizational boundary—a department, business unit, team, or external partner. The name appears in BPM swimlanes and throughout Nodinite.
Name and Description
Enter the Domain name and optional description.

Mandatory fields

  • Name: Every Domain must have a unique, descriptive name. Examples:
    • Departments: "Sales Department," "Finance Department," "Logistics Department," "IT Operations"
    • Business Units: "North America Region," "EMEA Division," "Retail Operations"
    • Technology Domains: "Cloud Services," "On-Premise Systems," "Legacy Applications"
    • External Partners: "Payment Provider," "Shipping Carrier," "Third-Party API"

Optional fields

  • Description – Provide a clear summary of the domain's scope, responsibilities, and which teams or systems it represents. This helps users understand organizational boundaries and accountability.
  • Web Site – Add a link to organizational documentation, team wiki, contact directory, or department page for additional context.

Tip

Use consistent naming conventions across domains. For example: "[Department Name] Department" or "[Team Name] Team" makes it easy to understand organizational structure at a glance.

Step 3: Enrich with Custom Metadata

As part of the Repository Model, you can add Custom Metadata to your Domain for enhanced governance, documentation, and organizational context.
Custom Metadata
Add Custom Metadata to capture business-critical information about the Domain.

Custom Metadata enables you to:

  • Capture ownership – Assign domain owners, managers, or responsible teams with contact information
  • Document SLAs – Record service-level agreements, response times, and performance expectations for the domain
  • Track location – Specify physical or cloud location, data center, region, or office
  • Define escalation – Document escalation procedures, on-call contacts, or support channels
  • Link resources – Reference organizational charts, team directories, or department documentation
  • Cost center – Track budget allocation, cost center codes, or financial accountability

Tip

Custom Metadata on Domains travels with the Domain across all BPMs—ensuring consistent organizational documentation wherever the Domain is used.

Important

Domains do not support Custom Fields. Use Custom Metadata instead for flexible, queryable documentation with better reporting integration.

Step 4: Use in BPM Designer

Once created, your Domain becomes a reusable horizontal swimlane in the BPM Designer. This is where the real work happens—adding Services to cells (XY positions) within your domain swimlanes.
Domain in BPM
Example: Domain used as a swimlane in the BPM Designer.

The BPM Designer workflow

  1. Open the BPM Designer for a new or existing BPM
  2. Add Domain swimlanes – Select existing domains from the dropdown or create new ones inline
  3. Add Services to cells – Click a cell (XY position) in a domain row and add one or more Services
  4. Each cell represents a process step where services execute within that organizational boundary
  5. Repeat across domains and columns to build your complete business process

Note

Services are added to cells in the BPM Designer, not to Domains directly. A Domain is simply a reusable swimlane (organizational layer). The same domain can be used in multiple BPMs with different services in each. See Add or manage BPM for details.

Why create Domains from the Overview page?

The Domain Overview page is useful for:

  • Pre-defining organizational structure – Create all your departments/teams upfront for consistency
  • Adding Custom Metadata – Enrich domains with ownership, SLAs, and governance details
  • Bulk management – Export, import, filter, and manage domains across your organization
  • Quick reference – See all domains in one place with filtering by Custom Metadata New 7.2

Benefits of the BPM Designer approach

  • Flexibility – Reuse the same domain (e.g., "Sales Department") in different BPMs with different services
  • Simplicity – Create new domains inline while building BPMs—no need to pre-define everything
  • Context – Add services directly where they belong in the process flow
  • Efficiency – Update domain metadata once, changes apply everywhere the domain is used

Tip

You don't need to create domains before creating BPMs. The BPM Designer lets you create new domains on the fly. Define core organizational domains upfront only if you want consistent reuse and centralized metadata management.

Where Domains Appear

Once created, your Domains become organizational building blocks accessible throughout Nodinite:

Domain and BPM Overview Pages

New 7.2 The Domain Overview and BPM Overview pages now support filtering by Custom Metadata, making it easy to find domains by owner, team, location, or any custom metadata field you've defined.

Business Process Models (BPMs)

Domains appear as horizontal swimlanes in BPM diagrams, making organizational structure and accountability crystal clear.

Monitor Views

Filter and group Resources by Domain in Monitor Views to provide department-specific operational dashboards for each team.

Integration Landscape

View which Domains participate in each Integration workflow in the Integration Landscape, understanding organizational involvement at a glance.

Log Views

Group and filter logged events by Domain in Log Views to analyze departmental performance, troubleshoot organizational handoffs, and identify bottlenecks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change a Domain name after it's created?

Yes! You can safely change a Domain name at any time. The change will be reflected everywhere the Domain is used—in all BPMs, Monitor Views, and Log Views.

Can a Service appear in multiple Domains?

Yes! Since services are added to cells in the BPM Designer (not to Domains directly), the same service can appear in cells across different domain swimlanes—even within the same BPM. This reflects real-world scenarios where a service participates in processes across organizational boundaries.

What happens if I delete a Domain?

From the Domain Overview, you can delete a Domain using the Actions menu. Deleted Domains can be restored later by enabling "Show deleted Domains" and selecting Restore. If a deleted Domain is used in a BPM, that swimlane will show as missing until the Domain is restored.

Do I need to create Domains before creating BPMs?

No! The BPM Designer lets you create new domains inline while building BPMs. However, pre-defining domains from the Domain Overview page is useful if you want to:

  • Add Custom Metadata for governance and ownership before using domains in BPMs
  • Ensure consistent naming across your organization
  • Enable filtering by Custom Metadata in the Domain Overview New 7.2

Both approaches work—choose what fits your workflow.

How do Domains differ from Applications and Categories?

Domains are business/organizational focused, while Applications and Categories are operationally focused. All three can be used together for comprehensive visibility.

Can I export and import Domains?

Yes! Use the Export function from the Actions menu to export Domains individually or in bulk. This opens the Nodinite Import/Export wizard, allowing you to back up domains or move them between environments.

Next Step

Domain Overview
Add or manage BPM
Add or manage Service

Business Process Model (BPM)
Services
Resources
Custom Metadata
Monitor Views
Repository Model