Is there a pattern/design for transition between two complex system states?

I want to know if there is a pattern for the transition between two complex system states.

For example, using Amazon Web Services there is a system called CloudFormation which is your infrastructure defined as JSON.

When you want to update this, you give AWS the desired infrastructure, it knows your current infrastructure, calculates the steps between and performs them. It intelligently makes as few changes as required.

What if any is the common name for this pattern/approach?