1. Business Rules for MeF By Greg Martinez & Donna Mucilli

2. Business Rules Schemas are only part of the story! Schemas are only part of the story! Industry Manual/ERO Manual must still be created Industry Manual/ERO Manual must still be created Post on state website along with the XML schema set Post on state website along with the XML schema set Use Approved TIGERS Format Use Approved TIGERS Format Goal is to make it easy for industry to support the state Goal is to make it easy for industry to support the state

3. What are business rules? Known as error reject codes in legacy system Known as error reject codes in legacy system Use to catch errors that are not formatting errors Use to catch errors that are not formatting errors Business rules are not the spreadsheets used for category based filings. Business rules are not the spreadsheets used for category based filings. Those spreadsheets are not needed for forms based systems Those spreadsheets are not needed for forms based systems

4. Business rules best practices Error and Reject codes must be clearly worded Error and Reject codes must be clearly worded Ideally should be clear to taxpayers as written Ideally should be clear to taxpayers as written Avoid using tag names in message text Avoid using tag names in message text Rules organized by category Rules organized by category For benefit of agencies & developers For benefit of agencies & developers Rule numbers indicate what form it applies to (i.e. – F1040-001 vs. 0123) Rule numbers indicate what form it applies to (i.e. – F1040-001 vs. 0123) Keep business rules in sync with legacy system during transition period Keep business rules in sync with legacy system during transition period Generally, follow what the IRS does Generally, follow what the IRS does

5. Types of errors caught by business rules Math rules (A + B = C) Math rules (A + B = C) Required supporting documents Required supporting documents Required pdf attachments and naming conventions Required pdf attachments and naming conventions “Soft” edits that do not reject a return (alerts) “Soft” edits that do not reject a return (alerts) Payment rules for the program Payment rules for the program Due dates and resubmission windows Due dates and resubmission windows

6. IRS business rule categories Data Mismatch Data Mismatch Database Validation Error Database Validation Error Duplicate Condition Duplicate Condition Incorrect Data Incorrect Data Math Error Math Error Missing Data Missing Data Missing Document Missing Document Multiple Documents Multiple Documents Not on time Not on time System Error System Error Unsupported Unsupported XML Error XML Error

7. Schema vs business rules Use schema to prevent formatting errors Use schema to prevent formatting errors Data exceeds maximum length Data exceeds maximum length Invalid data for data type Invalid data for data type Required fields Required fields Records in correct order Records in correct order Tag names are valid Tag names are valid Enumerated lists Enumerated lists

8. Schema vs business rules PROs of using schema to validate PROs of using schema to validate Allows developers to self test Allows developers to self test No ambiguity as to error condition No ambiguity as to error condition CONs of using schema to validate CONs of using schema to validate Challenging to communicate reason for validation failure to the users Challenging to communicate reason for validation failure to the users Many XML parsers throw incomprehensible error messages! Many XML parsers throw incomprehensible error messages! Use of XPath in error acknowledgments Use of XPath in error acknowledgments Lean toward schema validation vs. business rules