A Conceptual Framework For Mapping Business Rules To The Enterprise Data Model Sudha Ram, Jun Liu Department of Management Information Systems The University of Arizona

Objectives Provide data sourcing service for business rules Provide data sourcing service for business rules Design a conceptual model that captures semantics of business rules and associates business rules with the data objects they reference Design a conceptual model that captures semantics of business rules and associates business rules with the data objects they reference

Challenging Issues A “semantic gap” between business rules and the data model A “semantic gap” between business rules and the data model - Business experts specify business rules in natural language without referring to the enterprise data models - Business experts specify business rules in natural language without referring to the enterprise data models Business rules are subject to frequent changes Business rules are subject to frequent changes

Related Work Explicitly express the content and structure of business rules.Explicitly express the content and structure of business rules. - Guide Project (The Business Rule Group, 2000) - Guide Project (The Business Rule Group, 2000) Achieve an integrated conceptual model of business rulesAchieve an integrated conceptual model of business rules - Ross Method (Ross, 1997) - Ross Method (Ross, 1997) - ORM (Object Role Model) (Halpin, 1996) - ORM (Object Role Model) (Halpin, 1996) Business Rule Classification (Ram & Khatri, 2004) Business Rule Classification (Ram & Khatri, 2004)

Our Conceptual Framework

The Business Rules Model Business terms Business terms – “a word or phrase that has a specific meaning for a business in designated context” – “a word or phrase that has a specific meaning for a business in designated context” Business rules contain business terms Business rules contain business terms Example: Example:

The Mapping Mechanism Map business terms to data objects in the enterprise data model Map business terms to data objects in the enterprise data model Classify business terms Classify business terms - a taxonomy of business terms - a taxonomy of business terms

The Mapping Mechanism (cont.) Example Example

A Prototype System Architecture

Business Terms Management Subsystem

Business Rules Management Subsystem

Advantages of Our Framework Loosely couple business rules with the data model Loosely couple business rules with the data model Support frequent changes to business rules Support frequent changes to business rules What if order quantity determines order size What if fulfillment performance also affects order importance

Future Research Create a framework for possible mappings between business terms and data objects in the data model Create a framework for possible mappings between business terms and data objects in the data model Model business rules based on an enterprise ontology that shows the relationship between business terms Model business rules based on an enterprise ontology that shows the relationship between business terms

Questions ?