Extending Common Data Models with Custom Attributes in Negroni

Let’s be honest—“standard” data models are rarely standard enough.

As developers, we’ve all been there: you’re working with a so-called “common” data model, and right when you think you’ve got a reusable structure, your real-world requirements punch through with custom fields, validation quirks, and business-specific logic that the standard just doesn’t cover.

That’s where Negroni shines. Built on the Common Data Model standard, Negroni gives you a solid foundation for consistency—but doesn’t box you in. Need to extend that model with custom attributes, rules, or even publish it as an API? Negroni lets you do it all—visually, quickly, and without compromise.

Let me walk you through how I extend a common data model using Negroni to meet specific business needs—while keeping everything clean, versioned, and API-ready.

Start with a Strong Foundation

Negroni comes preloaded with industry-standard entities—Customers, Products, Invoices, you name it. That’s your starting point. Let’s say I’m modeling a Customer entity for a logistics company. The default fields are solid: FirstName, LastName, Email, PhoneNumber.

But here’s the twist: this company tracks a customer’s preferred delivery time window and a loyalty tier used to trigger perks in downstream systems. Not exactly fields you’ll find in the vanilla CDM.

Adding Custom Attributes (Without Fighting the Model)

This is where most platforms start sweating. Not Negroni.

In Negroni, I simply open the visual model editor, select the Customer entity, and click “Add Attribute.” From there, I define:

• PreferredDeliveryWindow as a structured string (e.g., "08:00-11:00")
• LoyaltyTier as an enumerated type (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum)

Boom. Done. These attributes are now part of the model—and more importantly, part of the underlying API schema automatically generated by Negroni.

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