A bipartite workflow graph, representing an understanding of an overall service, comprises two different graph elements: entities and processes and each individual microservice defines their logical constructs as either an entity or a process in accordance with a universal schema. Notifications from such microservices conform to the universal schema, thereby enabling microservices to individually change how they operate internally, without affecting an understanding of the overall system as represented by the workflow graph. Each graph element has its state maintained by a separately addressable execution unit executing a state machine, which can be individually updated based on information received from the microservices. Changes to the workflow graph are logged and an insight engine monitors such a log to insert insight markers in accordance with predefined events, thereby enabling the collection of metrics on a service wide basis and across multiple microservices.