adding records to code tables programaticly

Hi all, I am trying to figure out how can I add records to my code tables from with in my business process? are there mechanisms built to insert / check if records already exist? we need to keep some code tables up-to-date, and we need to make sure they are updated prior to the business process running and bringing in the constituents from the platform we are building this integration for. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.