1. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 1 BRS inc Collaborative Computing Application Packages Internet Knowledge Management “Your company is plunging headlong into the information age— ready or not.” The Common Factor Ronald G. Ross DataToKnowledge Newsletter Business 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

2. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 2 BRS inc Is there any common factor? Ready or Not, Into the Information Age IT Developer “Objects didn’t give us the software re- usability we expected.” Business Manager “Trying to change or migrate our systems is literally eating our lunch!” Project Sponsor “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.”...

3. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 3 BRS inc Is there any common factor? Ready or Not, Into the Information Age IT Manager Line Manage r Business Planner “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?”...

4. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 4 BRS inc Business Rules: The Common Factor Business Rules BPR Setting the Policies The IT Side The Business Side Knowledge Management Codifying Knowledge Training Building Instructional Systems Requirements Closing the Business/IT Gap Re-Usability Defining the Business Logic Maneuverability Building Adaptable Systems

5. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 5 BRS inc What is a business rule? BRS Definition: “From a systems perspective … “An atomic piece of re-usable business logic, specified declaratively.” PropertyInterpretationBenefit Atomic … cannot be reduced withoutFine-grained change losing business meaning Re-usable … applies across many businessHigh consistency activities and system components Business … not programming logicBetter communication Declarative … leaves out the how, who, Re-engineerability where, and when Business Rules: Defining the Business Logic IT Developer “We should be looking at business rules to achieve true re-usability.”

6. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 6 BRS inc Business Rules: Codifying Business Knowledge Establishing the Rule Management Group Mission To 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. Business Manager

7. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 7 BRS inc Business Rules: Codifying Business Knowledge The Components of Rule Management Four 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.

8. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 8 BRS inc 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.

9. © Business Rule Solutions, Inc. 9 BRS inc I.II.III.IV.V.VI.VII. InstanceTypePositionFunctionalComparativeMathematicalProjection VerifiersVerifiersVerifiersVerifiersEvaluatorsEvaluatorsControllers XMPOSFUNCEQCALCEA mandatorymutualpositionedfunctionalequal-tocalculatedenabled LIMMELOWUQNESUMCOP limitedmutually-lowestuniquenot-equal-tosummedcopied exclusive MIHIGHFLUCGTSUBEX mutually-highestfluctuatinggreater-thansubtractedexecuted inclusive MPCHROASGEMULT mutually-chronologicalascendinggreater-than-multiplied prohibitedor-equal-to OLDDELT oldestdescendingless-than... NEWNRELE newestnon-less-than-… renewableor-equal-to CICTDFINCVALRSLTCIEN CICTDFINCVALRSLTCICO CTDFINCVALRSLTCIEX CTDTINCVALRSLT DTINCVALRSLT 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?

10. Core Business Terms Fact Model Fact Model Data Model Data Model Relational Database Design Relational Database Design Database Schema Database Schema Operational Database Operational Database Operational Object Code Operational Object Code Operational Network Operational Network Operational Procedures & Interfaces Operational Procedures & Interfaces Policy Charter Policy Charter WHAT Data HOW Process WHERE Location Business Events Business Events Mission & Objectives Mission & Objectives WHO Work WHEN Timing WHY Motivation Copyright, 1998. Business Rule Solutions, Inc. Principal Actors Principal Actors Business Locations Business Locations Major Business Transformations Major Business Transformations Business Milestones Business Milestones Resource Allocation Resource Allocation Work Queue & Scheduling Designs Work Queue & Scheduling Designs Work Queues & Schedules Work Queues & Schedules Operational Work Queues & Schedules Operational Work Queues & Schedules Rule Book Rule Book Rule Specifications Rule Specifications Rule Base Rule Base Operational Rules Operational Rules Procedures & Interfaces Procedures & Interfaces Network Source Code Source Code Workflow Models Workflow Models Use Case + Rules (UC+R) Procedure & Interface Specifications Procedure & Interface Specifications Business Communications Map Business Communications Map Platform & Communications Map Platform & Communications Map Technical Platform & Communications Design Technical Platform & Communications Design Tasks Behavior Allocation Behavior Allocation Program Specifications Program Specifications BRSolutions: The BRS Business Rules Methodology Scope Sponsor Business Model Owner System Model Design Architect Technology Model Technical Designer Detail Representation Specialist Functioning Bus. Capacity Worker