Domain scope

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Domain scope

    Domain scope in a domain-separated ServiceNow instance controls what data and records users can access. Each user has two domain scopes during a session: the session scope (set by the user’s domain in their user record) and the record scope (based on the domain of the record being viewed). By default, record scope overrides session scope to ensure users see data and processes restricted to each record’s domain.

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    Key Features

    • Session and Record Scopes: Users start with a session domain scope but can manually change it using a domain picker. Record scope reflects the domain of the current record and typically takes precedence.
    • Toggle Domain Scope UI Action: Users with the domainexpandscope role can switch between viewing data limited to the record’s domain (record scope) or expanded to include parent and child domains (session scope) on a form.
    • Cross-Domain Record Value Selection: Users with visibility into multiple domains can select reference values (e.g., users or groups) from domains different than the current record’s domain without changing the record’s domain itself.
    • Domain Visibility Controls: Users see reference values and related records only if they have access to those domains. If they lack access, they see limited or no reference data.
    • Domain and Company Association: Users are automatically assigned to the domain of their company. Changing a company’s domain cascades to associated records such as locations, departments, groups, and users, except records marked as managed domain.
    • Domain Deactivation: Deactivating a domain disables all companies and prevents users in that domain from logging in, displaying an access error message.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    Understanding domain scope is essential for managing data security and visibility in multi-tenant or domain-separated environments. It enables:

    • Precise control over what data users can see and interact with based on domain membership.
    • Flexible visibility options by toggling between record-level and session-level domain scopes.
    • Safe cross-domain referencing without compromising domain boundaries.
    • Automatic domain management aligned with company structure to reduce manual administration.
    • Clear consequences and controls when deactivating domains, ensuring secure user access management.

    These capabilities help ServiceNow customers maintain strong data isolation while allowing authorized users to efficiently access and manage records across domains as needed.

    Domain scope defines what users can and cannot access.

    Every user has two domain scopes when establishing a session in a domain-separated instance.

    • Session scope is set upon session establishment to the domain listed in the user's user record. Users can manually change their session domain scope from the domain picker.
    • Record scope uses the domain of the record and is active when viewing the form of any record.

    By default, the record scope takes precedence over the session scope so that users in higher level domains adhere to each record's data and process constraints. However, these users can choose to expand or collapse the domain scope to show or hide data from other domains. For example, a user in the Service Provider (SP) domain also has visibility into child domains such as the ACME domain. When looking at an incident record from the ACME domain, the user can choose to expand the domain scope to show values from the SP domain or collapse the domain scope to show only record values that match the record's ACME domain.

    Note:
    Users always have access to data from domains that have been explicitly granted to them by domain visibility.

    Users with the domain_expand_scope user role can select the domain scope from the Toggle Domain Scope UI action on the form. When record scope is in effect, click the UI action to expand to session scope and display all data available based to the user's domain and child domains. When session scope is in effect, click the UI action to collapse to record scope and display only data that matches the current record's domain.

    Note:
    A record does not display the UI action to toggle the domain scope if the record is in the global domain or if the user's domain matches the record's domain.

    Record value selection from other domains

    Users who can see multiple domains have the option to select record values from a domain that is different than the record's domain.

    For example, service desk agents working for a service provider might want to assign certain incidents to themselves to resolve issues on behalf of their customers. When they do this, the incident Assigned to field might contain a user from the SP domain, even though the incident record itself is associated with a child domain such as ACME.

    Selecting a record value from another domain does not change the record's domain. The record retains its original domain. When a user views a record with values from multiple domains, the user's domain visibility determines what they see.

    Table 1. Record value selection
    When these conditions are met The user has access to these UI elements
    The user has access to the domain of the current record referenced in a field. The user can:
    • See reference field display value. For example, sees the user name in the Assigned to field.
    • See the related record from reference icon. For example, sees the user record for the user in the Assigned to field.
    • Select values from any visible domain. For example, can select users from either the SP and ACME domains.
    The user does not have access to the domain of the current record referenced in a field. The user can:
    • Not see reference field display values. (This is the case if domain separation was activated in Madrid or later releases and the user doesn't have access to the domain of that record.)
    • Only select values from the record's domain. For example, can only select users from the ACME domain.

    Domains and associated companies

    With domain separation you can cascade changes you make to a company record to the domain and other records associated to the company.

    By default, the system automatically assigns users to the same domain as their company. For example, all users of the ACME company automatically become members of the TOP/ACME domain.

    Note:
    Users with the admin role can change their own user records and therefore change domains. Service Providers may want to either disable delegated administration or set up an approval process to verify that the user needs the admin role.

    When you change a company's domain, the instance automatically changes the domain of the following associated records to match the company's new domain.

    • Locations
    • Departments
    • Groups
    • Users
    Note:
    The instance does not automatically change the domain of any record where you have selected the Managed domain checkbox.

    Domain deactivation and associated companies

    When you deactivate a domain, the instance also automatically completes the following actions.

    • Deactivates all companies in the domain.
    • Prevents all users assigned to the inactive company from logging in.
    Note:
    When a user from an inactive company attempts to log in, the user sees an error message similar to Company inactive - your access to this instance is not authorized.

    For example, if you deactivate the ACME domain from the sample data, the instance also deactivates the ACME company, and the three sample users are locked out.