The state of a feature type refers to its life-cycle status, an attribute of many feature types used by Bentley OpenUtilities Designer. Designers can assign a default value for the Life Cycle Status attribute of a feature type using Bentley OpenUtilities Designer's Job Default Assistant. This value is inherited by the assigned feature and can then be modified using the Design Assistant.

The Configuration Assistant is also used to set valid transitions between states as designs move through the work flow in Bentley OpenUtilities Designer.

State transitions of feature types are triggered by the actions of end users and usually require a GIS update. For example, if a job is cancelled, the design's Proposed Install features must be removed from the GIS. After a design is implemented and construction is complete, the design's Proposed Install features must be converted to In-Service features in the GIS. These state changes are determined by the life-cycle sequence that has been configured for each feature type. A state that begins or ends the life cycle is designated as Initial or Terminal. If an action causes an assigned feature to move to a state prior to its Initial state or subsequent to its Terminal state, the feature is deleted from the GIS.