# Cross-Domain Enterprise Agent Network

> One specialised agent per business domain, each grounded in its own system of record — cross-functional workflows route typed artifacts between domains via a standardised inter-agent protocol.

- **Category**: Agentic AI
- **Subcategory**: Multi-Agent
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/cross_domain_agent_network/

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## Description
**Intent**: Decompose enterprise agency into domain-specialised agents (finance, supply chain, HR, service), each grounded in its own system of record, and orchestrate cross-functional workflows by routing artifacts between them through a standardised inter-agent protocol.
**Context**: A large enterprise already runs its business across many backing systems — ERP, CRM, HR system, ticketing. End-to-end workflows cross those boundaries. A dispute moves from customer service into finance into supply chain; closing a quarter pulls from half a dozen sources. Each domain has its own data model, vocabulary, compliance rules, and owning team.
**Solution**: Build one specialised agent per business domain, each with its own grounded data, tool palette, and acceptance criteria. Define a standardised inter-agent protocol for handoffs (A2A, MCP). When a task crosses domains, the source agent routes to the target via the protocol, passing a typed artifact. An optional supervisor or role-based assistant fronts the user and dispatches to the right entry agent.



## Use Cases
- Enterprise agency spans multiple domains (finance, supply chain, HR, service) each with its own system of record.
- A standardised inter-agent protocol (A2A, MCP) is available or can be adopted.
- Each domain benefits from its own grounded data, tool palette, and acceptance criteria.






## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Each domain agent stays small, grounded, and ownable by its domain team.

- Cross-domain workflows are auditable per agent at every handoff boundary.

- Domain teams can ship and update their agents independently.




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Protocol design is the core engineering problem — a bad protocol fossilizes mistakes across every domain.

- map[Routing decisions become a second-order problem:who handles what, and who decides?]

- Failure attribution across the chain is significantly harder than for a single monolithic agent.







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://www.agentpatternscatalog.org/patterns/cross-domain-enterprise-agent-network/)