Method and apparatus for managing a user group list for a business process managed using a state machine

A method and apparatus are disclosed for maintaining membership lists associated with given states of a state machine. The present invention uses a state machine to represent a business process. The state machine includes a plurality of states, and at least one state includes an entry action that is executed upon entering the state. A user group list can be accessed and processed using the entry action. When an object enters a state, the corresponding entry action may be executed. The entry action will obtain the membership group name from the corresponding state definition. If the field is not null, then the business process manager queries the membership subsystem to obtain a list of individuals who belong to that membership group name for the organization which owns the object. Only those users are notified that the object is awaiting approval and are therefore designated as the preferred approvers for this object. A state table can be maintained indicating all objects that are awaiting action by one of the members designated on the preferred user list.