Frequently, in larger-scale Custom Application Development, a good architectural approach is to model the processes for the application using Business Process Modeling (BPEL). and Business Process Execution Lanaguage (BPEL).

BPEL actually stands for BPEL4WS (BPEL for Web Services)

Other Business Process technology includes:
Workflow&Rules Engines
* Business Rules can dictate flow of control
* Long running transactions - where completion can take days or weeks (think telephone company)

Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
* Alerts and information for management dashboards
* Allows management by exception
* Frequently integrated with portals and BPM
* Still in the Early adoption stages

Collaboration Software
* Examples: Groupware Portals, Web 2.0 collaboration, B2B exchanges
MS Project (Enterprise) & PM Tools

There are also:
Process Driven Integration (PDI) Best Practices
* Make an organizational commitment to continuous process improvement
* It is a discipline and a journey, and the highest rewards require the highest investment.
* Measure Process Performance.
* Time / Cost, Profitability, Customer Satisfaction.
* Reward Process Improvement.
* Provide Real-time Dashboards
* Promote Reuse