BPEL or Business Process Execution Language is an XML and Web standards-based SOA (service-oriented architecture) standard that allows business people to combine services into automated processes. As described in this review, Active Endpoints' ActiveBPEL product family includes a visual designer that works by allowing non-programmers to assemble Web services into processes by dragging and dropping graphical representations of components (Web services) and "wiring" them together in sequences and flowcharts.

There are five parts of a BPEL application. The true BPEL part is an XML file that conforms to the BPEL standard (BPEL4WS 1.1 and WS-BPEL 2.0). This file contains the definition of the activities that make up the BPEL process. Another part are the services that get integrated by BPEL; these are defined by standard WSDL files. The other three parts are the proprietary BPEL engine that runs the processes, the proprietary graphic designer that functions as the IDE or the development environment that allows drag 'n' drop design of processes, and the final part is the administrative tools for deploying and monitoring the BPEL process.