Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Orchestration
German: Orchestrierung
In software and automation architecture, orchestration is the coordination of several services, machines or processes by a central controlling instance, the orchestrator, which invokes them in a defined order, passes data between them and handles errors.
- System integration
In one sentence
Orchestration is the central coordination of services, machines or processes by an orchestrator that sets order, data flow and error handling.
Example
A workflow orchestrator calls the MES to reserve material, starts the machine job, waits for the quality result and then books the goods receipt in the ERP system.
How it applies
- Engineering: Orchestration puts the process logic in one place, which makes it visible and changeable. The orchestrator must handle partial failures, for example with compensation steps as in the Saga pattern.
- Operation: Monitor the orchestrator closely; if it fails, the orchestrated processes stop or remain in an intermediate state. Define how the participants behave without it.
- Documentation: Orchestrated processes are good candidates for process diagrams (BPMN, activity diagrams) in the documentation, showing steps, participants, decisions and error paths.
Orchestration vs. choreography
In orchestration, a central instance tells each participant what to do. In Service choreography, participants react to each other's events without a central controller. Orchestration is easier to monitor and change; choreography avoids a central dependency but makes the overall flow harder to see.
The term is also used for container orchestration (managing containers on a cluster) and for AI agents calling tools, as in an Agentic workflow; state which meaning you intend.