diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
index cb87dc86..8257745f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
@@ -119,8 +119,16 @@ jobs:
           pipx inject --pip-args=--constraint=.github/workflows/constraints.txt nox nox-poetry
           nox --version
 
+      - name: Checkout Samples
+        if: matrix.database == 'sqlite'
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          repository: sartography/sample-process-models
+          path: sample-process-models
       - name: Setup sqlite
         if: matrix.database == 'sqlite'
+        env:
+          SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_BPMN_SPEC_ABSOLUTE_DIR="${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/sample-process-models"
         run: ./bin/recreate_db clean rmall
 
       - name: Setup Mysql