Determinations 
A determination is an entity assigned to a node, which describes internal business logic that changes the business object. Like a database trigger, a determination is automatically executed by Business Object Processing Framework (BOPF) as soon as the trigger condition is fulfilled. This trigger condition is checked by BOPF at different points during the transaction, depending on the pattern of the determination. For each determination, it is necessary to specify the changes that form the trigger condition. Changes can include creating, updating, deleting, or loading node instances.
You can use a determination primarily to compute data that are derived from the values of other attributes. The determined attribute and the determining attributes of the trigger condition either belong to the same node or to different nodes. Furthermore, there are values that do not depend on other values but still must automatically be determined during the creation or modification of a node instance, for example IDs.
Determination Dependencies
To specify whether a determination is a predecessor or a successor of another determination, you define a determination dependency. If there is more than one determination to be executed, the dependencies of the determinations are incorporated when BOPF checks the trigger conditions of determinations. .
Example
After changing the quantity of invoice items, the trigger conditions of the CALCULATE_ITEM_AMOUNT determination and the CALCULATE_TOTAL_AMOUNT determination are both fulfilled. The CALCULATE_ITEM_AMOUNT determination calculates the amount of the changed item (price x quantity), the CALCULATE_TOTAL_AMOUNT determination add up the sums of all items to the total amount of the invoice.
If you do not define any dependencies, the system might calculate the total amount before the item amount. Therefore, you must maintain the CALCULATE_ITEM_AMOUNT determination as a predecessor of the CALCULATE_TOTAL_AMOUNT determination.
Determination Patterns
Depending on the use case, BOPF checks the trigger condition of a determination at several points during the transaction.