What is a Data Domain?

#AgileDataWoW

Data in an organisation is often broad, complex and full of uncertainty. One of the many data management challenges it brings is how to break large problems down into smaller problems we can work on.

One of the ways we eat this complexity is to define Data Domains.

A Data Domain is an approach to describing a subset of data, in a way that the business stakeholders and the data team can agree where the boundary for that data is.

It is typically based on the business reality of the organisation. This business reality provides us with a shared language. That shared language is one of the primary benefits of defining Data Domains.

There are a number of patterns we can use to help us define relevant and useful data domain boundaries within an organisation. These include team desing, organisation structures, System of Capture, type of data, core business concept, core business process or use cases.

Team Design / Organisation Structure: One way to define the boundary for a Data Domain is based on the specific business function or area of the organisation that the data is relevant to.

For example, a data domain might include all of the data that is relevant to the sales and marketing business unit within an organisation or the Human Resources business unit.

Systems Of Capture: Another way to define the boundary for a Data Domain is based on the specific source or sources of the data.

This might include data that is collected from a particular system or process. For example the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or the Inventory system.

Type of data : A Data Domain can also be defined based on the specific type or category of data that it includes.

For example, a data domain might include all unstructured data such as video or voice data.

Data related to a core business concept: The boundary of a Data Domain can also be defined based on the relationships between different data elements.

For example, a data domain might include all of the data that is related to a specific set of products, including data about the product itself, data about the customers who purchase it, and data about the sales and marketing efforts related to the product.

Data related to a core business process: The boundary of a Data Domain can be defined based on an end to end business process.

For example sale to fulfillment, farm to table or purchase order to payment.

Use case: the boundary for a data domain can be defined based on industry or organisational use cases, for example Life Time Value, or a Data Marketplace.

The pattern you use to define your Data Domains is highly dependent on the context of your team and your organsations, there is no one data domain pattern to fit them all.

There are however common Data Domains you will see in specific industries.

How do you currently define the boundaries for your data domains?