Where Custom Metadata Applies

Universal Application Across Every Entity

Custom Metadata is not limited to documentation—it attaches to every artifact in your Nodinite environment. Define metadata fields once ("Owner," "SLA," "Compliance Tags"), then apply them universally across your integration landscape.

Explore by category: Repository Entities | Monitoring Resources | BPM (Business Process Models) | Operational Views

Universal Metadata Flow

Diagram: Define Custom Metadata once (blue), apply to all entities (green), and it flows automatically to operational systems (gold). Universal application ensures consistency across your entire integration landscape.

Repository Entities

Integrations

What: Business-facing integration flows (e.g., "Order-to-Cash," "Patient Admissions")

Typical metadata:

• Owner (Henrik, Sarah, Ahmed)
• Department (Finance, HR, Healthcare)
• SLA Level (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
• Compliance Tags (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS)
• Approval Status (Approved, Pending, Rejected)
• Business Process Link (URL to documentation)

Why it matters: When an integration fails, the alert includes Owner + Emergency Contact → 2-minute engagement vs 45-minute hunting.

Learn more: Add or manage Integration | Integrations Overview | Alert Enrichment

Systems

What: Connected applications (SAP, Salesforce, Payment Gateway, Warehouse Management)

Typical metadata:

• System Owner (IT contact responsible for system)
• Vendor (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft)
• Environment (Production, Test, Dev)
• Criticality (Mission Critical, Standard, Low Priority)
• Maintenance Window (Saturday 2-6 AM EST)

Why it matters: Know instantly if a system failure affects production or test. Route alerts to correct system owner.

Learn more: Systems Overview | Monitor components

Services

What: Technical integration services and orchestrations (API endpoints, message processors, data transformers)

Typical metadata:

• Technical Owner (Developer/DevOps contact)
• Technology Stack (.NET, Java, Python, BizTalk)
• Deployment Date (2024-03-15)
• Change Window (Requires approval for changes)
• SLA (4-hour response for Gold services)

Why it matters: Technical context embedded in operational systems. DevOps knows who built what and when.

Endpoints

What: Connection points (URLs, file paths, message queues, database connections)

Typical metadata:

• Endpoint Type (REST API, SOAP, SFTP, Database, Queue)
• Security Level (Public, Internal, Confidential)
• Authentication Method (OAuth, API Key, Certificate, Kerberos)
• Rate Limit (1000 requests/hour)
• Firewall Rules (Requires port 443 open)

Why it matters: Security audits in seconds. Filter "Show all Public endpoints with no authentication" → instant vulnerability report.

Message Types

What: Transaction types flowing through integrations (Invoice, Purchase Order, Patient Record, Payment)

Typical metadata:

• Business Document Type (Financial, Healthcare, Logistics)
• Compliance Requirement (GDPR personal data, HIPAA protected health info)
• Retention Policy (7 years for financial, 90 days for diagnostic)
• Encryption Required (Yes/No)
• PII Data (Contains personally identifiable information)

Why it matters: GDPR breach? Filter "Show all Message Types with GDPR tag" → notify legal in 30 seconds.

Monitoring Resources

Resources (Monitored Components)

What: Any monitored component (CPU, Memory, Disk, Database, Web Service, Integration Atom, Cloud Function)

Typical metadata:

• Responsible Team (Platform Team, Database Team, DevOps)
• Escalation Contact (On-call engineer)
• SLA (99.9% uptime for Gold resources)
• Criticality (Critical, Standard, Low)
• Emergency Procedure (Link to runbook PDF)

Why it matters: CPU hits 95% → alert includes "Call Michael (Platform Team) at +1-555-0123, Emergency Runbook: [link]"

Business Process Management

BPM (Business Process Models)

What: Visual process flows showing integration steps (Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, Hire-to-Retire)

Typical metadata:

• Process Owner (VP Operations, CFO)
• Annual Volume (500,000 orders/year)
• Revenue Impact ($50M annually)
• Compliance Scope (SOX, GDPR, ISO 27001)
• Last Audit Date (2024-Q2)

Why it matters: Business users see operational health overlayed on their process flows. "Step 2: Payment Processing" shows Owner=Sarah, Health=Yellow, Uptime=98.5%.

Domains (Organizational Swimlanes)

What: Business units or functional areas (Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Customer Service)

Typical metadata:

• Domain Owner (Department head)
• Budget Code (for chargeback reporting)
• Governance Policy (Link to governance document)
• Audit Frequency (Quarterly, Annual)

Why it matters: Finance alerts go to Finance on-call. HR incidents route to HR team. Automated, metadata-driven routing.

Operational Views

Log Views

What: Filtered views of log events (e.g., "Finance Errors," "GDPR Data Flows," "Payment Gateway Transactions")

Typical metadata:

• View Purpose (Troubleshooting, Compliance Audit, Business Intelligence)
• Audience (Developers, Operations, Auditors)
• Retention (30 days standard, 7 years compliance)

Why it matters: Compliance auditors have pre-filtered views. "Show all GDPR events" → instant audit trail.

Monitor Views

What: Grouped monitoring resources (e.g., "Production Servers," "Payment Systems," "Cloud Functions")

Typical metadata:

• Responsible Team (Platform, Database, DevOps, Application)
• SLA Agreement (4-hour response, 24-hour resolution)
• Escalation Chain (Primary → Secondary → Manager)
• Maintenance Window (Saturday 2-6 AM)

Why it matters: Alert routing based on metadata. "Payment Systems" failures → Finance on-call automatically notified.

Documentation and Knowledge

Articles

What: Documentation pages, runbooks, troubleshooting guides, architecture diagrams

Typical metadata:

• Document Type (Architecture, Runbook, FAQ, Best Practice)
• Owner (Technical writer, Architect)
• Last Reviewed (2024-10-15)
• Review Frequency (Quarterly)
• Approval Status (Approved, Draft, Archived)

Why it matters: Keep documentation current. Filter "Show articles not reviewed in 6+ months" → update knowledge base.

Key Benefits of Universal Coverage

Define Once, Use Everywhere

Create "Owner" field once → Apply to Integrations, Services, Resources, BPM, Domains, everywhere.

Result: Consistent governance across entire landscape.

Metadata Follows Relationships

Custom Metadata from Integration automatically appears in:

• Linked Services → Technical context
• Linked Systems → Application context
• Linked Endpoints → Security context
• Log Events → Inline display with business context
• Monitor Alerts → Owner + SLA + Emergency Contact included
• BPM Diagrams → Business process overlay with operational health

Result: Zero context switching. Operations and business context fused into one view.

Filter and Query by Any Metadata

Portfolio intelligence queries:

• "Show all Gold SLA integrations without owners" → Governance gap report
• "Show all GDPR integrations in Production" → Compliance audit
• "Show all Services using deprecated technology" → Technical debt report
• "Show all Resources with 99.9% SLA but <98% uptime" → SLA violation report

Result: Executive visibility into integration landscape health.

Next Step

Add or manage Custom Metadata – Create metadata fields that apply across all entities

Add or manage Integration – Assign metadata to integrations

Add or manage System – Tag systems with owner, vendor, criticality

Related Topics

Foundation:

• Custom Metadata Overview - Hub page for all Custom Metadata features
• Repository Model - Overall integration architecture

Entity Documentation:

• Integrations - Business integration flows
• Systems - Connected applications
• Services - Technical integration services
• Endpoints - Connection points and protocols
• Message Types - Transaction types

Advanced Entities (Plus Package):

• BPM - Business Process Models
• Domains - Organizational swimlanes

Operational Integration:

• Alert Enrichment - Custom Metadata in alerts and webhooks
• Mandatory Fields - Enforce governance with required metadata