Designing a Scalable Domain Taxonomy

This article provides guidance on creating an effective domain taxonomy using Immuta Domains. Intended for Global Governors, Immuta Administrators, and Domain Stewards, this guide outlines strategies for structuring domains that align with your organizational goals and streamline governance tasks such as policy creation, user permissions, and auditing.

In this guide, you’ll learn

• The strategic importance of a clear domain taxonomy

• Different domain structure models (product-centric, region-centric, etc.)

• Best practices for using metadata tags, including hierarchical and infrastructure tags

• Examples of how domains can overlap and coexist effectively

Why a well-structured domain model matters

A thoughtfully designed domain taxonomy enables decentralized governance and efficient access management, reducing overhead for central IT and enhancing data stewardship at the business-unit or departmental level. Clear, logical domains allow domain stewards to directly manage policies, audits, and permissions, making governance both scalable and responsive.

Example domain models

Product or line-of-business domains Organize domains around business units or product lines, such as Retail Banking, Wealth Management, or Insurance. This structure assigns data stewardship directly to business units, ensuring domain-specific expertise guides governance.

Functional or departmental domains Structure domains based on internal organizational functions, such as HR, Marketing, or Finance. This approach clearly aligns governance responsibilities with functional teams and simplifies policy enforcement relevant to departmental needs.

Region or geography domains Create domains based on geographic or regulatory boundaries like North America, Europe, or APAC. Regional domains help manage data compliance with jurisdiction-specific laws (e.g., GDPR) and enable targeted policy application.

Data platform or infrastructure domains Use infrastructure domains to group data by technology or data platform (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks). This model simplifies managing platform-specific governance, user permissions, and technical policies.

Hybrid domains Combine multiple domain structures to reflect complex organizational needs. Domains may overlap, allowing data sources to belong to multiple domains simultaneously, each domain managing different governance aspects such as departmental policies or regional compliance.

Best practices for implementing your domain taxonomy

1. Leverage metadata tags for dynamic domains

Use metadata tags to dynamically assign data sources to domains. When creating a domain, select a tag for dynamic assignment to automatically manage domain membership.

• Hierarchical tags: Define tags in hierarchical structures (e.g., Region.NorthAmerica.US) to easily create broad or narrow domain scopes. Selecting a parent tag automatically includes all child tags within the domain.

• Infrastructure tags: Immuta automatically applies tags based on data connection information, structured as Immuta Connections.Technology.ConnectionName.Database.Schema. Use these tags to quickly group data sources by platform or environment without manual intervention.

2. Delegate domain stewardship

Assign clear domain stewards with specific permissions (e.g., Manage Policies, Audit Activity) to empower local governance. Typically, assign at least two stewards per domain for redundancy and clear ownership.

3. Support overlapping domains

Allow data sources to belong to multiple domains for flexible governance. For example, a financial data source might reside in both a Finance domain and an EU GDPR compliance domain, enabling simultaneous management of functional and regulatory policies.

Example scenarios

Healthcare clinical trials A pharmaceutical company uses region-specific domains (US Trials, EU Trials) with dynamic tags to automatically assign clinical trial data. Regional coordinators manage access and masking policies directly, ensuring regulatory compliance.

Financial services AML A retail bank sets up domains per business unit (Retail, Corporate, Wealth) and applies global PCI masking policies. Each domain steward adds additional subscription policies relevant to their line of business, effectively layering policies without conflict.

State government data portal A state government creates departmental domains (Transportation, Education, Health) with delegated domain auditors responsible for auditing data access. Domains support FOIA compliance by streamlining the production of domain-specific audit logs.

Conclusion and key takeaways

A scalable and logical domain taxonomy in Immuta supports decentralized governance, enhances compliance management, and simplifies auditing and policy administration. Follow these key practices:

• Clearly define domain purposes aligned with your organizational structure.

• Leverage dynamic tag assignment, particularly hierarchical and infrastructure tags.

• Delegate domain stewardship effectively.

• Utilize overlapping domains to handle complex governance needs.

By thoughtfully implementing these recommendations, you ensure your data governance remains efficient, scalable, and responsive to organizational requirements.