Domain separation explained
Summarize
Summary of Domain separation explained
Domain separation in ServiceNow enables you to segregate application data, user interface (UI), and business logic within a single customer instance. This segregation supports logical domains and hierarchical structures, allowing multiple tenants to securely share the same instance while maintaining data privacy and customization. It is also known as the ServiceNow Multitenant Platform Architecture.
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While domain separation introduces management overhead, proper use improves efficiency, security, and performance across tenant environments. However, some global elements like system properties and table schemas cannot be separated per tenant.
Key Features
- Data separation: Tenants access only the data they are permitted to see. Data updates do not generate update sets, and user access is restricted to their domain data unless explicitly granted cross-domain permissions.
- UI separation: Allows tenant-specific customization of UI elements such as views, lists, forms, dashboards, and branding while preserving core business process logic.
- Business logic separation: Supports tenant-specific system policies including email notifications, business rules, client scripts, UI policies, and UI actions.
- Hierarchical modeling: Enables nested tenant domains where parent tenants can access and manage child tenant resources, and business logic can be inherited or overridden at each domain level.
- Cross-tenant intelligence: Automatically manages data, metadata, business logic, and processing context for tenants with authorized access to multiple domains.
Domain Architecture
User records are assigned a home domain, restricting their data access to that domain only. Advanced domain visibility can be configured using contains queries and domain access controls. The hierarchical domain architecture ensures process flows and permissions cascade appropriately from parent to child domains.
Value Proposition for Service Providers
Domain separation allows service providers to efficiently and securely deliver multitenant solutions using a shared instance. By applying strong process standards, data-driven design, governance, and centralized administration, providers can maximize operational benefits and customer satisfaction.
Practical Considerations
- Review domain separation guidelines before implementation due to its complexity and management overhead.
- Understand that certain global configurations remain shared and cannot be domain-separated.
- Utilize appropriate domain hierarchy setup, domain assignments, and domain access controls to tailor tenant environments securely.
- Be aware of performance considerations and monitoring tools such as domain logs for error tracking.
With domain separation, you can segregate application data, UI, and business logic, such as rules or workflows, in a single customer instance. Separating these elements into logically defined domains supports specific hierarchies for all customers using your applications.
Domain basics
Domain separation, also known as ServiceNow multitenant platform architecture, adds considerable overhead to the management of an instance. If you use domain separation correctly though, it can improve efficiency, add greater security, and increase the performance of your customers' instances.
You can't separate some global standards and properties, such as system properties and table schema, per tenant.
Before you start separating domains, read the following guidelines.
What you can do with domain separation
- Data separation: Enables tenants of the domain to see only data that they have
permissions to see. Tenants can be granted access to other tenant data but can't query
tenant data that they don't have access to.
- When you update data records, they do not generate Update Set records.
- Users, including the customer accounts that are used for integrations, see only the data in the domains they have permission to access.
- Customers, agents, and fulfillers see data that pertains to the customers and organizations that they support.
- UI separation: Supports a tenant-specific experience for UI elements such as views,
lists, labels, and so on.
- You can override the browser-based user interface, including application menus, lists, forms, and dashboards. You can also customize them for a specific domain or set of domains while preserving your basic process logic.
- Service providers can alter the displayed branding and UI elements to meet individual customer needs.
- Business logic separation: Creates tenant-specific system policies such as email notifications, business rules, client scripts, UI policy, and UI actions.
- Hierarchical modeling: Nests your multiple tenants so that parent tenants can access child tenant resources. Business logic for parent tenants runs automatically for child tenants, which you can override at any level.
- Cross-tenant intelligence: Automatically handles data, metadata, business logic, and processing context for tenants with access to additional tenant data.
Domain separation at a glance
The following graphic shows the division of data, process, and UI separation. These concepts are discussed in depth in the Recommended Practices section.
Domain architecture
User records are assigned a domain value that represents the user’s home domain. Users have no access to data in parent domains, peer domains, or domains in other branches of the hierarchy.
See Contains queries and domain access for advanced options to grant additional domain visibility.
The following diagram shows how the architecture process flows down to the child domains.