Bounded contexts define the application's responsibilities in business logic, behavior, and data ownership. So-called context maps, as described in Domain-Driven Design, represent the entire system landscape. It shows the individual responsibilities, contexts, and belongings of its applications. Bounded contexts therefore fit within a context map to show how they exchange information among each other.

The following shows the context map of the cars domain, including two bounded contexts:

It's advisable to consider the different responsibilities of the system before designing and carving out applications. Lack of clarity on an application's responsibilities usually emerges quickly as soon as the system's context map is recorded.

Context maps are not only helpful during the initial project definition, but also during revisiting and refining responsibilities once business functionality changes. In order to prevent the boundaries and belongings of distribution applications from drifting apart, it's advisable to reflect on them from time to time.