Decision & Routing includes five components: Rules Engines for configurable business logic, Branching Logic for workflow path selection, Task Routing for directing work to handlers, Model Routing for AI cost optimization, and Escalation Logic for automatic issue elevation. The right choice depends on what you need: configurable rules, workflow paths, work assignment, cost optimization, or escalation. Most systems combine multiple types. Start with Rules Engines for core logic, then add other types based on workflow needs.
Every approval waits 3-5 days because one person must review everything.
A support ticket sits in the general queue for 47 minutes while three people look at it and move on.
The rules for routing exist in your head. When you are unavailable, work stops.
Work does not get done faster by being visible to everyone. It gets done faster by reaching the right place first.
Part of Layer 4: Orchestration & Control - The brain that directs everything.
Decision & Routing is about making your systems intelligent. Instead of dumping everything into a shared queue or routing all work down the same path, these components evaluate conditions and direct work to the right destination automatically.
Most systems need multiple routing types working together. Rules Engines evaluate the logic. Branching Logic chooses the path. Task Routing finds the handler. Escalation Logic catches what falls through. The question is not "which one?" but "which combination?"
Each routing type solves a different problem. Using the wrong one means fighting your tools.
Rules | Branching | Routing | AI Routing | Escalation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Purpose | Evaluate business logic and trigger actions | Route workflow execution down different paths | Assign work to specific handlers | Select AI models based on requirements | Move stalled work to higher tiers |
| Decision Maker | Configurable conditions and priorities | Decision points in workflow | Handler attributes and availability | Task complexity and cost constraints | Time thresholds and conditions |
| When It Runs | When conditions need evaluation | At workflow decision points | When work needs assignment | Before AI requests | Continuously monitoring |
| Output Type | Actions or routing categories | Selected workflow path | Assigned handler | Selected AI model | Escalation trigger |
The right choice depends on what you are routing and why. Answer these questions to find your starting point.
“Business logic changes faster than our development cycles can keep up”
Rules engines let you change decision logic without code deployments.
“Different request types need completely different handling processes”
Branching logic routes each case down the appropriate path.
“Work sits in queues while people figure out who should handle it”
Task routing assigns work to handlers based on skills and availability.
“We are paying premium AI prices for tasks that do not need it”
Model routing matches task complexity to model capability and cost.
“Issues fall through cracks and only surface after they become problems”
Escalation logic catches stalled work and moves it to the right level.
“We need all of the above working together”
Most production systems combine multiple routing types for complete coverage.
Answer a few questions to get a recommendation.
Decision and routing is not about the technology. It is about matching how work enters your system to where it needs to go.
Work arrives that needs to go somewhere or something needs to happen
Evaluate conditions and route to the right destination
Work reaches the right place without manual intervention
When every request goes through the same 12-step process regardless of priority...
That's a branching logic problem - different scenarios need different paths, not one-size-fits-all.
When approvals wait 3-5 days because one person reviews everything...
That's a rules engine problem - decision logic should be configurable, not bottlenecked on one person.
When work sits in a queue while three people look at it and move on...
That's a task routing problem - work should reach the right handler first, not wait for someone to claim it.
When AI costs keep climbing but output quality is not improving...
That's a model routing problem - simple tasks are using expensive models that provide no benefit.
When issues slip through cracks and only surface after customers complain...
That's an escalation logic problem - stalled work needs automatic elevation, not manual monitoring.
Which of these sounds most like your current situation?
These mistakes seem small at first. They compound into expensive problems.
Move fast. Structure data “good enough.” Scale up. Data becomes messy. Painful migration later. The fix is simple: think about access patterns upfront. It takes an hour now. It saves weeks later.
Decision and routing refers to the components that direct work through your systems based on conditions and rules. Instead of manually deciding where each request goes, these components evaluate data and make routing decisions automatically. This includes evaluating business rules, choosing workflow paths, assigning tasks to handlers, selecting AI models, and escalating issues when needed. The goal is consistent, fast, auditable decisions without human bottlenecks.
The choice depends on what you are routing. Use Rules Engines when business logic changes frequently and needs to be configurable without code changes. Use Branching Logic when a single workflow needs different paths for different scenarios. Use Task Routing when work needs to reach specific people or teams. Use Model Routing when optimizing AI costs across models. Use Escalation Logic when issues need automatic elevation based on time or severity.
Rules Engines evaluate conditions and trigger actions based on configurable business rules stored outside your code. Branching Logic routes workflow execution down different paths at specific decision points. Rules engines focus on evaluating what should happen. Branching logic focuses on where execution should go next. In practice, rules engines often feed into branching logic: the rules engine determines the routing category, and branching logic routes to the appropriate path.
Use Task Routing for initial work assignment: directing incoming work to the right handler based on skills, availability, and workload. Use Escalation Logic when work needs to move up after initial assignment: when issues sit too long, exceed thresholds, or need higher-tier attention. Task routing is proactive (right handler from the start). Escalation is reactive (move when conditions warrant). Most systems use both together.
The biggest mistakes are: using one routing type for everything when you need multiple, embedding complex logic in branch conditions instead of using a rules engine, routing without fallback paths for edge cases, ignoring workload when routing tasks to handlers, and escalating too aggressively so senior resources drown in routine work. Match your routing approach to your specific need and always include default paths.
Yes, most production systems combine multiple routing types. A typical pattern: Rules Engines evaluate business conditions and output a routing category. Branching Logic routes the workflow based on that category. Task Routing assigns work to specific handlers within each branch. Escalation Logic monitors progress and moves stalled items up. Each component handles one job well rather than trying to do everything.
Model Routing directs AI requests to different models based on task complexity and cost. Simple classification tasks use cheaper models. Complex reasoning tasks use premium models. This prevents overpaying for simple tasks while ensuring complex tasks get capable models. The routing decision considers task type, required quality, cost constraints, and latency needs. Combined with fallback chains, model routing can cut AI costs significantly without sacrificing quality.
Decision and routing sits in the middle of your workflow architecture. It receives inputs from triggers and ingestion patterns, evaluates conditions using scoring and classification from upstream, and outputs to execution components like approval workflows and human handoffs downstream. Routing decisions depend on context from entity extraction and priority scoring. The results feed into process control, state management, and ultimately human interfaces.
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