Entitiesowned

Entitiesowned is a term used in software architecture and data modeling to describe an ownership relationship in which one domain entity is responsible for the lifecycle, persistence, and access controls of one or more related entities. It is not a formal standard, but a descriptive concept that helps teams reason about boundaries, dependencies, and data integrity within a system.

In practice, entitiesowned aligns with the idea of an aggregate root in domain-driven design: the owner entity governs a collection of related entities, and the owned entities typically cannot be managed independently outside the owner’s context. This often implies a defined lifecycle: creating, updating, or deleting the owner can propagate to the owned entities, and the ownership boundary constrains visibility and access.

Common patterns associated with entitiesowned include cascade persistence and cascade delete, strong referential integrity, and clear transactional boundaries. The owner often defines identity, authorization rules, and audit requirements for the owned entities.

Examples include a Customer entity that owns Address and Subscription entities, or a User entity that owns Session records. Deleting the Customer may cascade to remove related Addresses and Subscriptions, depending on business rules.

Implementation considerations include database design (foreign keys with cascade options), ORM configuration for cascade operations, and data access strategies for embedded versus referenced ownership. Trade-offs involve potential tight coupling and reduced reuse of owned entities across boundaries, so ownership should be defined to balance integrity with flexibility.

See also: domain-driven design, aggregate, composition, cascade operations. Notes: the term is common in design discussions but not a formal standard.