Processes end. Tasks complete. Transactions close. The business object persists.
Contracts.
Claims.
Payments.
Onboarding cases.
Assets.
Requests.
NOT JUST A BUSINESS OBJECT
A Living Business Object does more than represent a business entity. It maintains the operational reality around it as that reality changes.
It remains the same thing.
Across processes, systems, interactions and time.
It remembers what happened.
Content, decisions, events, communications, relationships and execution become part of its history.
It knows where it is now.
Its current condition reflects where the object stands in its operational life.
What happens around it changes what’s possible.
Events, content, rules, people, systems, automation and AI can alter its condition — making actions available, required, blocked or deferred.
It carries its operational reality forward.
A Living Business Object represents:
- What it is.
- What has happened.
- What is happening.
- What can happen next.
MORE THAN CONTEXT
State, data, content, evidence, history, relationships, rules and permissions do more than describe the object. They help determine what should happen next.
WHAT
WHEN
WHO
WHICH PROCESS
WHICH SYSTEM
WHAT AI
WHICH DECISION
WHAT STATE
Context
Something changes.
Understanding
The situation is understood in the context of the object.
Decision
The right action is determined and executed.
Execution
The result becomes part of the object.
Repeat
Then the object continues.
PERSISTENCE VS. EXECUTION
Different forms of work can start, finish or run concurrently without forcing the entire life of the business object into one end-to-end process. Separate what must persist from what must execute. A Living Business Object is an operational object capable of carrying its context through execution.
Living Business ObjectONE OBJECT. EVERYTHING AROUND IT.
One business object. Many kinds of work. One continuous operational context.
MODEL WHAT NEEDS A LIFE
Not every document, record or transaction needs to become a Living Business Object. An entity deserves its own operational life when its identity, lifecycle, responsibilities, evidence, relationships or history need to remain coherent across different execution contexts.
A contract may need
its own life.
An invoice may simply be content within a Payment Case.
if it need its own lifecycle
it can become a
Living Business Object.
FROM ONE OBJECT TO MANY
Living Business Objects can connect to other objects that matter to their operational context. A change in one object may matter to another — without automatically triggering action.
Relationships provide context.
Governance determines consequences.
One object creates continuity. Connected objects create Connected Operations.
