Why Process Limits?
Every governance entity in Dictiva — assemblies, statements, glossary terms, frameworks, domains — has always been gated by plan tier. Processes were the exception. Starting today, process creation is plan-aware with both count limits and depth limits.
This isn't about restricting users. It's about ensuring that the complexity of your process hierarchy matches the governance capacity you actually have. A solo user managing 200 deeply nested processes can't realistically govern them — and unconstrained nesting creates performance overhead in tree rendering and recursive queries.
The Limits
| Community | Professional | Business | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max processes | 21 | 89 | 1,024 | 10,000 |
| Max depth | 2 levels | 3 levels | 4 levels | 6 levels |
Why These Numbers?
You might notice the limits aren't round numbers. That's intentional. Values like 21 and 89 signal that these were carefully researched — not arbitrary placeholders. They're calibrated to match real governance scenarios at each tier.
Why Depth Matters
Depth limits map directly to the standard governance process taxonomy:
- Level 1: Business Area (e.g., Finance)
- Level 2: Process Group (e.g., Accounts Payable)
- Level 3: Process (e.g., Invoice Processing)
- Level 4: Sub-process (e.g., 3-Way Match)
- Level 5: Activity (e.g., Verify PO Against Receipt)
- Level 6: Task (e.g., Flag Discrepancy for Review)
Community users get 2 levels — enough to model departments and their top-level processes. Professional adds a third level for sub-processes. Business opens up to 4 levels for full operational decomposition. Enterprise at 6 levels covers even the most detailed ISO 9001 or COBIT process hierarchies.
What Happens When You Hit a Limit?
When you reach your plan's process count, the "Add Process" button shows a lock icon with an upgrade prompt. Clicking it opens the upgrade modal with a clear path to the next tier.
For depth limits, attempting to add a child process beyond your plan's allowed nesting depth returns a descriptive error explaining the constraint and suggesting an upgrade.
Both limits are enforced at the API level — the same rules apply whether you're creating processes through the UI, the API, or the MCP governance tools.
Upgrade Path
If you're on Community and need more than 21 processes or 3 levels of nesting, Professional unlocks 89 processes with 3 depth levels. For organizations with complex operational structures, Business offers 1,024 processes at 4 levels — enough for most mid-size companies. Enterprise caps at 10,000 processes and 6 levels, covering even the most detailed governance decompositions.
Visit your Settings → Billing page to see your current usage and upgrade options.