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BRSinc

Collaborative Computing Applicatio

n Packages

InternetKnowledge

Management

“Your company is plunging headlong into the information age—ready or not.”

The Common Factor

Ronald G. RossDataToKnowledge NewsletterBusiness Rule Solutions, Inc.713 668-1651

www.BRSolutions.com

Reference: Business Rule Concepts, by Ronald G. Ross, Business Rule Solutions, Inc.1998.

Introduction to Business Rules

© Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 2

BRSincIs there any common factor?

Ready or Not, Into the Information Age

ITDeveloper

“Objects didn’t give us the software re-usability we expected.”

BusinessManager

“Trying to change or migrate our

systems is literally eating our lunch!”

ProjectSponsor

“The project team gives me a ton of stuff, but I still don’t get what I need. Seems like we are always spinning our

wheels or hitting dead ends.”

. . .

© Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 3

BRSincIs there any common factor?

Ready or Not, Into the Information Age

ITManager

LineManag

er

BusinessPlanner

“My analysts and the business users still

don’t know how to talk

to each other.”

“All this constant change is great, but how can I possibly keep my people up to speed on what they have to know to do their jobs?”

“Self-service is the way to go, but how do we build smart

systems? And what about knowledge management?”

. . .

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Business Rules: The Common Factor

Business RulesBPR

Setting the Policies

The IT Side

The Business SideKnowledge Management

Codifying KnowledgeTraining

Building Instructional Systems

Requirements

Closing the Business/IT

Gap

Re-UsabilityDefining the Business Logic

ManeuverabilityBuilding Adaptable

Systems

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What is a business rule?BRS Definition: “From a systems perspective …

“An atomic piece of re-usable business logic, specified declaratively.”

Property Interpretation Benefit

Atomic … cannot be reduced without Fine-grained changelosing business meaning

Re-usable … applies across many business High consistencyactivities and system components

Business … not programming logic Better communication

Declarative … leaves out the how, who, Re-engineerabilitywhere, and when

Business Rules: Defining the Business Logic

ITDeveloper

“We should be looking at

business rules to achieve true re-

usability.”

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BRSinc

Business Rules: Codifying Business Knowledge

Establishing the Rule Management GroupMissionTo support the specification, organization and improvement of business rules for the benefit of company business practices.

Objectives Ensure consistency of business rule across functions,

geographical areas, and systems. Identify relevant business rules quickly whenever required. Maintain traceability for all business rules. Understand the motivation for every business rule. Support impact analysis for revising or replacing business rules.References:

The BRS Approach to Rule Management: RMSolutions, by Ronald G. Ross and Gladys S.W. Lam, Business Rule Solutions, Inc., 1999.

“The Business Rules Process at AT&T,” by Marvin Brandar, DataToKnowledge Newsletter, November/December, 1998.

BusinessManager

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Business Rules: Codifying Business Knowledge

The Components of Rule ManagementFour areas essential to success with Rule Management…

1.How to organize the Rule Management function.… covering the organizational issues and a plan of action for establishing Rule Management in your company.

2.Rule Management techniques.… techniques for harvesting rules and for conducting facilitated sessions to capture business rules interactively in group sessions.

3.Guidelines for expressing rules.... guidelines for expressing business rules in clear, unambiguous, well-structured business English.

4.Meta-Model for rules.… a comprehensive data model for organizing and recording business rules.

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The Questions you need to answer ...

Business Rules: Codifying Business Knowledge

What: What is the rule?

How: What are the support components?

Where: What jurisdictions is the rule enforced in?

Who: What parties are involved with the rule?

When: What changes affect the rule?

Why: What are the reasons for the rule?Reference:

The BRS Approach to Rule Management: RMSolutions, by Ronald G. Ross and Gladys S.W. Lam, Business Rule Solutions, Inc., 1999.

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I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.Instance Type Position Functional ComparativeMathematical ProjectionVerifiers Verifiers Verifiers Verifiers Evaluators Evaluators Controllers

X M POS FUNC EQ CALC EAmandatory mutual positioned functional equal-to calculated enabled

LIM ME LOW UQ NE SUM COPlimited mutually- lowest unique not-equal-to summed copied

exclusive

MI HIGH FLUC GT SUB EXmutually- highest fluctuating greater-than subtracted executedinclusive

MP CHRO AS GE MULTmutually- chronological ascending greater-than- multipliedprohibited or-equal-to

OLD DE LToldest descending less-than ...

NEW NRE LEnewest non- less-than- …

renewable or-equal-to

CI CT DF IN CVAL RSLT CIEN

CI CT DF IN CVAL RSLT CICO

CT DF IN CVAL RSLT CIEX

CT DT IN CVAL RSLT

DT IN CVAL RSLT

DT IN CVAL RSLT

Chart of Atomic Rule Types

Unshaded rule types represent the general case for the rule family

Reference: The Business Rule Book: Classifying, Defining and Modeling Rules, Second Edition,Business Rule Solutions, Inc., Houston, TX, 1997

What About Ross Method?

CoreBusiness

Terms

CoreBusiness

Terms

FactModel

FactModel

DataModel

DataModel

RelationalDatabase

Design

RelationalDatabase

Design

DatabaseSchema

DatabaseSchema

OperationalDatabase

OperationalDatabase

OperationalObject Code

OperationalObject Code

OperationalNetwork

OperationalNetwork

OperationalProcedures &

Interfaces

OperationalProcedures &

Interfaces

PolicyCharter

PolicyCharter

WHAT Data

HOW Process

WHERE Location

Business Events

Business Events

Mission &Objectives

Mission &Objectives

WHOWork

WHEN Timing

WHY Motivation

Copyright, 1998. Business Rule Solutions, Inc.

PrincipalActors

PrincipalActors

BusinessLocations

BusinessLocations

MajorBusiness

Transformations

MajorBusiness

Transformations

BusinessMilestones

BusinessMilestones

Resource Allocation

Resource Allocation

Work Queue & Scheduling

Designs

Work Queue & Scheduling

Designs

Work Queues & Schedules

Work Queues & Schedules

OperationalWork Queues& Schedules

OperationalWork Queues& Schedules

RuleBook

RuleBook

RuleSpecifications

RuleSpecifications

RuleBase

RuleBase

OperationalRules

OperationalRules

Procedures &Interfaces

Procedures &InterfacesNetworkNetworkSource

Code

Source Code

WorkflowModels

WorkflowModels

Use Case + Rules(UC+R)

Use Case + Rules(UC+R)

Procedure &Interface

Specifications

Procedure &Interface

Specifications

BusinessCommunications

Map

BusinessCommunications

Map

Platform &Communications

Map

Platform &Communications

Map

TechnicalPlatform &

CommunicationsDesign

TechnicalPlatform &

CommunicationsDesign

TasksTasks

BehaviorAllocation

BehaviorAllocation

ProgramSpecifications

ProgramSpecifications

BRSolutions: The BRS Business Rules Methodology

Scope

Sponsor

Business Model

Owner

System Model

DesignArchitect

TechnologyModel

TechnicalDesigner

DetailRepresentation

Specialist

FunctioningBus. Capacity

Worker