The TransactionOptions property determines how the transaction is handled.

During normal operations the transaction is committed at the end of the TransactionScopeActivity. If an exception is raised somewhere inside the TransactionScopeActivity, for example by a ThrowActivity, a rollback is performed.

To ensure consistency between the WorkflowInstance and the database being updated the TransactionScopeActivity is adorned with the PersistOnCloseAttribute. When the TransactionScopeActivity is used the WorkflowRuntime must be configured with a WorkflowPersistenceService. This could be the build in SqlWorkflowPersistenceService or another custom WorkflowPersistenceService.