EBZ342 Building Solutions Using the BizTalk Rules Engine Scott Woodgate Jupiter Product Planner

Overview of BizTalk Rules Enabling Agile Processes Core Concepts & Scenarios Key Personas Demo Rules Engine Architecture Rules in BizTalk Server 2004 Integration with Orchestration Common Design Patterns Q & A Agenda

Enabling Agile Processes Manual Processes Automated Process Islands Connected Processes Agile Processes Connected Automation Process externalized; Policies in code; Change is STILL hard Formal & Ad-hoc processes still disconnected Better Visibility for users; Poor Control Process & People connected Process & Policies externalized; Change is feasible thru flexible processes Formal & Ad-hoc processes unified Total visibility & control of process/ policy for business users Localized Automation; Process Silos Process & Policies in app code/data; Change is hard Ad-hoc processes (exceptions/variations) mostly manual Poor Visibility for business users No Automation & Process Repeatability Subjective Policy Enforcements Org-silos manifested into process/policy silos Business Users are active participants Policies Challenges for Agile Processes Accessibility Flexibility Manageability Agile Business Process Automation OrchestrationRules Tracking

Rules are Declarative statements for capturing changing business policies Represented as: IF THEN Logically grouped into policies Complementary to procedural process models Rules allow business users to Define & own business policies without coding Change business policies in real time without rebuilding/redeploying applications Connect formal & ad-hoc (human-oriented) processes What are Rules?

BAM OLAP ‘On-Hold Orders’ Rule: When outstanding invoices over allowed credit limit, then suspend all ongoing orders KPI Reasoning Closed loop analytics Business Analytics Message Routing If order is for Product A, send it directly to factory; For all others send it to Corporate If purchase order amount is more than $1000 Then notify sales manager Service Intelligent Routing Intelligent Notification Custom order needs expediting; Need approval/review. Workflow customization Policy-based Routing Smart-Task Assignments Ad-hoc Collaborations If Customer is a Gold Customer Then Apply 10% discount A valid credit card number must be provided Policy management Validations/Constraints Decision support Dynamic Business Processes Agile Business Process Automation OrchestrationRules Tracking Rules for the Agile Enterprise

Lightweight.NET Engine Integrated with BizTalk Server Host-agnostic for In-proc scenarios Powerful Tools & Framework Supports IW, Developers & IT Admin Complete API for Design & Execution Rich Modeling Capabilities Logical Expressions (AND/OR/NOT/Custom) Data Sources:.NET Objects, XML, DB Enterprise-Ready Security, Performance, Versioning BizTalk Rules in a Nutshell

Rules Personas Information Worker Design & Test Policies Use business vocabularies Developer Integrate Policies & Process Bind vocabularies IT Pro Security, Deployment and Migration of policies Track Policy execution Composer : Stand-alone App Composer : Stand-alone App Use Policies through InfoPath Use Policies through InfoPath Inside Visual Studio.NET Inside Visual Studio.NET Composer : For Policy Bindings Composer : For Policy Bindings Inside HAT (Health & Activity Tracking) Inside HAT (Health & Activity Tracking)

Information Worker  Build & Modify Policies Using vocabularies or directly from data source Test policies  Version Policies  Use Policies through InfoPath

Developer  Build Vocabularies From database, XML,.NET elements  Integrate Policies in Orchestration Policy shape in Orchestration Designer  Implement Policies. NET API XML-based Meta Data Format

IT Pro  Deploy and Migrate Policies Deploy published policy versions Import / Export Policies  Track Rule execution Unified process / rules tracking using HAT Monitor Performance Counters for rule activity  Administer and Manage security

Loan Processing Demo - Runtime demo demo

Loan Processing Policy Income Status Rule IF Basic Salary and Other Income > 0 THEN Set Income Status in the loan to be “Valid” Commitments Status Rule IF The Loan ID is equal to a Valid ID AND Credit Card Balance > 500 THEN Set Commitments Status in the loan to "Compute " Employment Status Rule Residency Status Rule Negation Rules

Architecture Overview

Framework Architecture Policy Updates Authorization updates

Rules in XML or via API’s Rich built-in library that includes: Temporal, relational predicates Support for ranges and regular expressions Arithmetic operations Engine execution control functions Support for complex logical expressions (AND / OR / NOT) and user defined constructs Multiple rule stores (XML / SQL / OleDB) Design time features

Vocabulary elements to associate technical implementation to business terms IF The Loan ID is equal to a valid ID in customer database AND Credit Card Balance is greater than Maximum Limit THEN Set Commitments Status in the loan to "Compute " LoanData.CreditBalanceLimit

Forward Chaining Inference Mechanism Finds all true statements given knowledge base and a new set of facts Efficient Pattern Matching Eager (tuple oriented) Match Lazy (collection oriented) Match Database Optimizations Delayed Query and Virtual Working Memory Plug-in components that are extensible and customizable Application integration via Policy object Run time features

Authorization Role based access to the policies/vocabularies via logical Authorization Groups Versioning ‘Latest-Version’ or ‘Specific-Version ’with Roll-back Rule Engine Update Service Dynamic Updates with configurable caching Performance and scalability Optimized eager-match algorithm for smaller rule sets & MS algorithm for larger rule sets Scales to large rule-sets and fact bases Enterprise Ready Framework

Rules and Orchestration

Tools integration Visual Studio.NET-based Orchestration Designer with Policy Object “Call Rules” Shape Runtime integration In-process execution Works with orchestration dehydration and re- hydration model Integrated with HAT (Health & Activity Tracking) Integration with Orchestration

Patterns Illustrated Call Rules Engine to dynamically determine which orchestration to call in the next step Call Rules Engine and determine path Call Rules Engine to execute logic, instead of burying it in code Use the Rules Engine for dynamic or variable delays

Rules or Orchestration: Where do I use them? Use Rules for: Discrete, point-in-time evaluations & calculations Large no of permutations to encode in a control flow Fact-based inferencing where control flow can not be predefined Use Orchestration for: Formal workflows that require: Long-running semantics Transactions/ Compensations Messaging Known control-flow that needs to be rigorously managed for Perf/Scale Visibility & tracking are critical

Gartner says… “By enabling business users to respond more quickly to change, organizations with rules technologies will have greater agility and improve their time to market and thus their competitive advantage” “By 2006, 80% of all integration software will include either direct or indirect business-friendly rules capability” Conclusion

BizTalk Rules Engine When combined with orchestration technology, enables truly agile process platform TODAY Enables business users to fully participate in business processes Increases BPM platform ROI through policy consistency across the organization Conclusion

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