Similar changes in the state of a case instance may be driven by events occurring or conditions getting fulfilled. For example, it is possible to define that when one plan item completes, another is enabled. Similarly, a plan item can terminate when an event triggers. When specifying plan items, this concept is referred to as entry criteria and exit criteria. These criteria are always defined for individual plan items, not for plan item definitions. For example, the following case model fragment defines an entry criterion for the plan item :

The conditions and events behind entry and exit criteria can be expressed by so-called sentries. Refer to the section on how sentries work and what kind of conditions can be expressed by them.

Any exit criteria can only be met when the corresponding plan item is in the ACTIVE state.When any exit criterion is met, a plan item performs a state transition from to state TERMINATED.