Business Rules Management with...

Business Rules Management with SAP Busines Rule Framework plus

Christopher Naab, Solution Architect, Active Global Support, SAP America

© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Agenda

Key Trends and Issues

SAP Solution Overview

Roadmap: Decision Service Management

Examples

Key Trends and Issues


Key Trends and Issues Driving Change in Application

Development

Transparency

Transparent

business logic and

repository for

business rules

Increased demand

for governance, risk,

and compliance /

policy enforcement

Flexibility at low cost

Fast time from initial

idea to realized

solution

Decrease

dependency on

highly specialized IT

resources

Allow for on-going

optimization and

adaption of business

logic

Business user empowerment

Enable business

user to adapt

application to

constantly changing

environment w/o IT

expertise

Role specific user

experience


Problems with Conventional Methods

Rules inside Code

Business

User

Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim

Analyze Budget Impact

Analyze Resource Impact

Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Business

Expert

Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Business

Analyst

Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Rules as Tacit Knowledge

Rules in Documents

Rules inside Application

Sales Commissions

Premium Calculations

… Triggers

Stored

Procedures

Costs, archiving, backups, compliance? Agility, visibility for business, changes?


Support of Rules within traditional SAP components

Condition technique (lean vs. full blown)

VSR (Validations, Substitutions, Rules): used

in FI, CO, FI-AA, Funds Management, JV

Accounting, PS, Real Estate, Warranty,…

Variant configuration / object dependency

“BRF” (without “plus”!)

ERMS (Email Response Management

System) in CRM

Workflow rules

Application specific rule engines in SRM,

SCEM, IS AUTO (JIT, JIS, VMS, DBM, WTY)

…


Evolution of Business Application Architecture

■ Separate data and application logic by putting an application’s data into a database managed by a

database management system (DBMS)

■ Put business rules into a Business Rules Management System (BRMS) and business processes

into a Business Process Management System (BPMS)

■ Once the connection between application code and BRMS is established, programming skills and

code changes for updates of the business rules are not required

■ With a BRMS business rules can be centrally managed, easily found and compared

Processes

Rules

Data

Processes

Rules

Data Data

Pro

ce

ss

es

Ru

les

Business Application Business Application Business Application

Usage of

Database

Usage of

BPMS and

BRMS


Shipping Cost Determination

Application

• Completeness check

• Data validation

• No-go criteria

Determine Shipping

Cost Surcharge

• Determination of shipping cost

• Calculation of surcharge and total order value

Exception Handling

• Send email

• Trigger workflow

Business

Application ► Order Management

Business

Process ► Shipping cost

determination

Business

Rule ► Free shipping for

order value > $100

Rules Vers.

1

Rules Vers.

2

Rules Vers.

3

Rules Vers.

4

Rules Vers.

5

Rules Vers.

6

Business Application Release 1 Business Application Release 2

Process Version 1 Process Version 2 Process Version 3

Rules Vers.

7

SAP Solution Overview SAP Business Rule Framework plus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouhJeH02HU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouhJeH02HU


BRFplus is a Best of Bread Rules Engine

Personalization

Personalization and

segmentation of rules

Rapid Time-to-Value

Rapid prototyping with feedback-

based build cycle (build, simulate,

optimize) leading to shorter idea-to-

value cycles

Business User

Empowerment

Graphical approach and

business semantics for

intuitive rule composition

and management (modeling

rather than programming)

Transparency

Transparency of rule

execution and tracing for

audit


What is in from an Infrastructure Perspective?

User

Interface

API allowing for role

specific User Interface

Integration

Fully integrated with DDIC, ABAP

data base, backend routines,

authorization, security,

transportation management

Backend Call

Easy to call – 6 lines of ABAP or

RFC or Webservice

No Setup

Zero initial setup effort

Timeless Software

Allows to build timeless, flexible,

and customizable business

applications with less code lines

and efforts

Low TCO

BRFplus comes for free –

it is covered by the general

SAP license

High Performance

High performance and nearly

no footprint


Business Rule Services with BRFplus

Business Rules Service

Web Service

RFC Application

Business Rules

BRFplus Function: Service Definition Input (Context), Output (Result), Purpose

Can be called by ABAP API, RFC, or Web Service

1

*

BRFplus Rulesets: Service Implementation Collection of rules

Preconditions, priorities, validity

Context enrichment (additionally needed data)

BRFplus Rule: step implementation IF <condition(s)>

THEN <operation(s)>

ELSE <operation(s)>

Usage of expression types (decision tables, decision trees,

formulas, table operations, …) to define complex

conditions and value derivations/calculations

Usage of action types (message log, workflow, email, …) to

trigger side effects

Code Exit

BADI

Result triggers follow-up actions


Shipping Cost Determination

Application

• Completeness check

• Data validation

• No-go criteria

Determine Shipping

Cost Surcharge

• Determination of shipping cost

• Calculation of surcharge and total order value

Exception Handling

• Send email

• Trigger workflow

Business

Application ► Order Management

Business

Process ► Shipping cost

determination

Business

Rule ► Free shipping for

order value > $100

Rules Vers.

1

Rules Vers.

2

Rules Vers.

3

Rules Vers.

4

Rules Vers.

5

Rules Vers.

6

Business Application Release 1 Business Application Release 2

Process Version 1 Process Version 2 Process Version 3

Rules Vers.

7


BRFplus Impressions Function


BRFplus Impressions Ruleset


BRFplus Impressions Expression Type Decision Table


BRFplus Impressions Expression Type Formula


BRFplus Impressions Simulation

Decision Service Management


Decision Service Approach: Customer Landscape

Decision Service Manager

Extremely low hardware requirements

Requires NetWeaver 7.0 Enhancement Package 3 or NetWeaver 7.3

Enhancement Package 1

Managed Systems

Existing servers with customer business applications

No Upgrade required, works with NetWeaver 6.40 or higher (>6 years old)

Any number of managed systems can be connected with the Decision Service Manager (RFC)

Co

nn

ecto

r

Managed System 1

e.g. Business Suite

Managed System 2

e.g. CRM

Co

nn

ecto

r




Decision Service Approach: Modeling

Decision Service Modeling with BRFplus

Central creation, test and management of all rules and

decisioning logic

Service implemented in rulesets using decision tables,

trees, text rules, formulas, …

Transparency - no code but graphical modeling

Access to all relevant data in the managed systems

(e.g. master data used in value help of decision table

rules)

Co

nn

ecto

r

Managed System 1

Managed System 2

Co

nn

ecto

r



Decision Service Approach: Deployment

Decision Service Deployment

Deployment describes the transfer of the decision service

into one or many managed systems

Hot deployment - immediate use with no downtime for

deployment

Activity periods - deploy today with as-of usage timepoint

Overview about all decision services in all systems,

deployment statistics

C

on

necto

r

Managed System 1

Managed System 2

Co

nn

ecto

r


Decision Service Approach: Use

Decision Service Use

Local execution of generated code, mass-enabled

Best performance

No dependency on Decision Service Manager

Execution traces (inputs, result, decision path for decisioning analytics or legal compliance)


Co

nn

ecto

r

Managed System 1

Managed System 2

Co

nn

ecto

r



Decision Service Approach: Continuous Improvement

Co

nn

ecto

r

Optimize

Co

nn

ecto

r

Managed System 1

Managed System 2

Co

nn

ecto

r

Decision Service Optimization

Rapid change cycles in the hand of the domain experts: Analyze

Optimize

Implement

Automated business decisions with full transparency for better decision quality

Immediate ROI


ERP BW


CRM

SRM

Co

nn

ecto

r

Custom

App

Non-SAP Web Service

Decision Service Approach

Decision Service enabled customer system landscape

Deployment of one service into multiple systems

Reuse of decision services and single rules, decision tables, etc.

Non-SAP systems connected by web service

Co

nn

ecto

r

Co

nn

ecto

r C

on

necto

r

Co

nn

ecto

r

Examples


SAP Applications Powered by BRFplus


BRFplus in SAP Standard Components

Business by Design: multiple usages

Transportation Management: freight cost determination, printer determination,

loading time calculation,…

CRM (Loyalty Management, Territory Management, RTOM)

GRC: determination of Key Risk Indicators (KRI) to automate reporting and

trigger follow-up actions

Business Context Viewer (BCV): BRFplus calculates values which are being

used as decision criteria

IS-U Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI): determination of follow-up

actions for smart meter events

…


SAP ERP Shopping Cart empowers all company employees to create and manage their own requisitions with a user-

friendly Web interface

Easy-to-use shopping cart for employees, that manages their requisition

Supports internet-like search that helps the employees to easily find their products

The workflow supports approval or rejection of the shopping cart items by the manager

High Integration into existing Processes

Re-use of existing Configurations and Data

Very minimum configuration effort

Provision of Default Values via Switch BC Sets

ERP Self Service Procurement

BRFplus

Create

Shopping

Cart

Generate

Workitem

and Assign

Approve/

Reject

workitem

Determine

Approver

BRFplus Use Cases

Determine workflow agent and routing of workflow

Approved/

rejected

Shopping

Cart


BRFplus (for flexible workflow control)

Master Data Governance (MDG) addresses the customers challenges around master data

MDG enables organizations to gain overall consistency of their different master data that is spread

across their system landscape by providing one central view and a trusted knowledge about this data

MDG is the out-of-the-box, domain-specific master data governance solution to centrally create,

change and distribute master data

MDG ensures governance, compliance, and transparency through integrated staging, approval, and

central audit trail

Master Data Governance

BRFplus (for data derivation & validation)

Start Change

Request

Validation & Data

Quality

Approval &

Distribution Data Maintenance

BRFplus Use Cases

Data derivation to default values from existing input

resulting in less manual data entry for everyone

Data validation to check data entries and validate

the content which allows for modification-free

modelled checks

Decision tables integrated into business workflow

providing for flexible workflow definition by

business analysts


When does it make sense to introduce BRFplus into your

application architecture?

High transactional volume

High level of automation required

Dynamic business environment, i.e. rules are changing frequently during

the normal cause of business

Logic can be externalized of the application in rules, i.e. decision points

can clearly be separated from the process flow (e.g. checks, validations,

substitutions, exceptions, prerequisites, calculations, etc.)

Rules, checks, validations, calculations, etc have a shorter lifecycle than

the application they require to be embedded in

High flexibility required cannot sufficiently be addressed by the standard

applications used for transactional processing


Business Rules Management Flexible & agile business systems Precise & informed decision making

Faster turnaround times for changes Improved visibility for the business

Reduced cost for changes

Benefits of Using Business Rules Management

Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Rules

Roles

UI

Workflow

& Task

Event

Data

Process Context

Create Claim



Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Out

of

stock

Product

15 min

Reple-

nish-

ment

order

Model

Refine

Automate

Manage

Business Rules Management Benefit

Separation of business rules

and code

Agile and maintainable systems

Modeling of complex business

logic

Automation of key business

decisions

Central management of

business rules

Consistent application of

corporate policy and

government regulations

Business Experts can find,

change and test critical

business rules

Visibility, accountability and

error-free business

Thank You!

Business Rules Management with...

Documents

Transcript of Business Rules Management with...