The Decision stage is the fundamental component in Blue Prism for controlling process flow based on a condition. It evaluates a logical expression that results in a True or False outcome. In this scenario, after calculating the customer's age (likely in a preceding Calculation stage), a Decision stage would be used to test the condition [Age] < 18. Based on the True/False result, the process is directed down one of two distinct paths, allowing it to handle underage customers differently from adults, thereby fulfilling the requirement.

A. Calculation stage: This stage is used to perform data manipulation and calculations, such as finding the age from a date of birth, but it cannot conditionally alter the process flow.

B. Business Rule stage: This is not a standard, distinct stage type in the Blue Prism Process Studio palette. Business rules are implemented using stages like Decision.

C. Validation stage: This is not a standard, distinct stage type in Blue Prism. Data validation is a concept implemented using a combination of stages, primarily Decision and Exception stages.

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1. Blue Prism Corporation. (2023). Blue Prism Process Studio v7.2 User Guide.

Section: "Decision Stage"

Content: The guide explicitly states

"A Decision stage is used to ask a question

the answer to which determines the path taken by the process... The expression entered must be one that evaluates to either True or False." This directly supports its use for testing the customer's age against a threshold.

2. Blue Prism University. (2022). Foundation Training - Process Flow.

Module: "Decisions"

Content: The training material describes the Decision stage as the primary mechanism for creating branches in a process. It emphasizes that a decision diamond always has two outgoing paths (True/False)

which is precisely what is needed to separate customers based on an age check.

3. Blue Prism Corporation. (2023). Data Sheet: Blue Prism Process Studio.

Section: "Core Components"

Content: The data sheet lists and describes the main stages available. It defines the Decision stage for conditional logic and branching

while the Calculation stage is defined for executing expressions and assigning results to data items. It does not list "Business Rule" or "Validation" as stage types.