Glossary

Gateway

Also called: decision gateway

A point in the flow where the process branches or converges. A gateway without explicit data and rules is not a decision: it is ambiguity drawn as a diagram, and the methodology rejects it.

A point in the flow where the process branches or converges. A gateway without explicit data and rules is not a decision: it is ambiguity drawn as a diagram, and the methodology rejects it.

A gateway with no explicit data or rules hands the decision — and the criterion — to whoever happens to be operating. The process looks defined on the diagram while in practice it varies by shift.

Related terms

Activity

A human or automated unit of work within a process. In an executable architecture it is not a box on a diagram: it is a point of interaction between work, data, rules, permissions, evidence,…

Business rule

A constraint, calculation, validation, derivation or policy governing activities and decisions.

Operational decision

A determination made within a process to select a path, assign a resource, approve or reject, compute a priority or trigger an exception.