Business Process Activities

In the previous chapters, we described states, transitions, and the different types of logic involved in executing a business process. In this chapter, we bring these ideas together and look at what actually happens when a transition is executed.

A transition is not a single action. It is a sequence of activities performed by different components, each responsible for its own concern.

An Example Transition

The diagram below shows a transition taken from the “Person Identification” use case of a dental office information system.

The numbers in the diagram illustrate the order in which activities are performed. Let’s walk through them step by step.

Step-by-Step Execution

1. Waiting in the initial state

The business process is waiting in the initial state, represented by the “Health Card Verification” page. This page is a state handler. The “Verify health card” button represents a trigger.

2. Triggering the transition

The patient enters a health card number and clicks the button. This action starts the transition.

3. Entering business logic

The state handler passes the collected input to business logic, indicating that a transition has started from the current state.

4. Requesting data processing

Business logic delegates data-related work to data processing logic. Business logic itself does not work with raw data.

5. Accessing data

Data processing logic requests the required data from data access logic. Data access logic retrieves the health card data from the data store.

6. Preparing decision-ready information

Data access logic returns the raw data. Data processing logic prepares and normalizes it and passes the result to business logic.

7. Making a decision

Business logic evaluates the outcome using business rules and determines the next state of the business process (for example, “The health card is not valid”).

8. Selecting the next state handler

State logic selects the state handler that represents the chosen state. In this example, the application displays the “Additional Charges” page.

What This Example Shows

This example demonstrates an important idea:

• A transition is executed by multiple specialized components.
• No single component performs all activities.
• Each type of logic has a clear and limited responsibility.

By keeping these responsibilities separate, business processes remain easier to understand, maintain, and evolve.

Table of Content Introduction into Business Process Previous: State Logic Next: Transition Execution Pipeline