Testing authorization for workflow transitions instead of screen access

Goal

Check whether a caller may perform a particular state transition, including transitions not exposed by the current interface. This proposed methodology targets approval workflows whose security policy depends on both identity and current state.

Prerequisites

Create a synthetic document workflow with draft, submitted, and approved states in an isolated application. Define who may perform each transition and whether the author may approve their own document.

Steps

1. Draw a small transition table with current state, requested action, caller relationship, and expected next state. Include denied transitions explicitly rather than documenting only the happy path.

2. Execute a permitted transition as a control and verify the stored state. Use the application’s supported request interface directly so the test does not depend on whether a button is visible.

3. Attempt a transition from the wrong starting state using a known synthetic document. Inspect both the response and record afterward to catch changes that occur before a late rejection.

4. Repeat a transition with a caller who has the wrong relationship, such as the document author where independent approval is required. Keep state and payload otherwise unchanged.

5. After a repair, rerun the table and inspect any emitted job or notification associated with transitions. A denied state change should not quietly trigger the protected downstream action.

Expected result

The resulting tests should express authorization as a state-sensitive rule and make missing or unintended transitions visible to a reviewer.

Limits and test basis

The table reflects the chosen product policy, not a universal approval model. Concurrent transitions and external side effects require additional isolation and delivery tests beyond this sequential fixture. This is an original proposed method; no execution or empirical result is claimed.