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The Operational Control Plane

NetPad serves as an operational control plane around MongoDB, governing the complete lifecycle of your documents—from creation through evolution.

NetPad becomes the control plane around MongoDB
MongoDB remains the engine of truth. NetPad manages intake, decisions, automation, and auditability.

What is a Control Plane?​

In distributed systems, a control plane manages and orchestrates how data flows through a system, while the data plane handles the actual data storage and retrieval.

NetPad applies this concept to document management:

  • MongoDB is the data plane—storing documents, executing queries, maintaining collections
  • NetPad is the control plane—governing how documents are created, reviewed, transformed, and tracked

The Document Lifecycle​

Every document in your MongoDB database has a lifecycle. NetPad provides tools and governance for each stage:

Create​

Forms · APIs · AI Intake

Documents enter your system through multiple channels. NetPad provides visual form builders, API endpoints, and AI-powered conversational intake to capture data consistently and validate it before it reaches MongoDB.

Review​

Ownership · Approvals

Not every document should go straight to the database. NetPad enables approval workflows, ownership assignment, and review gates to ensure data quality and compliance before documents are committed.

Decide​

State Transitions

Documents move through states—draft to submitted, pending to approved, active to archived. NetPad workflows manage these transitions with conditional logic, ensuring business rules are enforced.

Act​

Automation · Integrations

When documents reach certain states or conditions, actions need to happen. NetPad triggers webhooks, sends notifications, updates related documents, and integrates with external systems automatically.

Audit​

Immutable Events

Every change, every approval, every state transition is logged. NetPad maintains an immutable audit trail, providing compliance evidence and enabling forensic analysis when needed.

Evolve​

Schemas & Workflows

As your business changes, so do your data requirements. NetPad supports schema evolution, form versioning, and workflow updates—all without disrupting existing data or processes.

Why a Control Plane Matters​

Without a Control Plane​

When applications interact directly with MongoDB without governance:

  • Inconsistent data enters the database through different code paths
  • No audit trail of who changed what and when
  • Manual processes for approvals and state changes
  • Scattered business logic across multiple services
  • Difficult compliance with regulations requiring data lineage

With NetPad as Control Plane​

NetPad provides:

  • Unified intake through forms, APIs, and AI—all validated against your schemas
  • Complete auditability with immutable event logs
  • Automated workflows that enforce business rules consistently
  • Centralized governance without sacrificing flexibility
  • Built-in compliance with versioning and audit trails

The Three Interfaces​

NetPad accepts input from three types of actors:

InterfaceDescriptionUse Cases
HumansWeb forms, dashboards, admin interfacesData entry, approvals, manual overrides
SystemsREST APIs, webhooks, integrationsAutomated data sync, external triggers
AIConversational forms, intelligent routingNatural language intake, smart triage

All three interfaces feed into the same control plane, ensuring consistent governance regardless of how data enters your system.

MongoDB Remains Central​

It's important to understand what NetPad doesn't do:

  • NetPad doesn't replace MongoDB—it enhances how you interact with it
  • NetPad doesn't copy your data—MongoDB remains the single source of truth
  • NetPad doesn't lock you in—your data stays in standard MongoDB collections

Think of NetPad as the governance layer that sits around MongoDB, providing the operational controls that MongoDB itself doesn't offer out of the box.

Getting Started​

Ready to implement an operational control plane for your MongoDB data?

  1. Connect your database — Set up your MongoDB connection
  2. Build your first form — Create a data intake point
  3. Create a workflow — Automate document processing
  4. Set up audit logging — Enable compliance tracking

Architecture Overview​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     NetPad Control Plane                     │
├─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────────┤
│   Forms     │  Workflows  │    APIs     │   AI Intake      │
├─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────────┤
│                    Validation & Governance                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                      Audit Trail                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         MongoDB                              │
│              Documents · Collections · Queries               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Next Steps​