Table of Contents
Preface.
I. THE BUSINESS PROBLEM: WHY BUSINESS RULES?: READINGS FOR
BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS.
Overview.
1. What's This about Business Rules?: The Problem and
the Fix in a Nutshell.
A Telltale E-Mail Trail.The Case for Business Rules.When Is a Door
Not a Door?The Business Rule Difference.
2. Areas of Opportunity:
Changing the Face of Business.
Where Does the Business Rule Approach Apply?The “Re's” of Business
Rules.Let's Make a Deal.A Killer App for Business
Rules.Reempowerment for the Company's Provisioning
Processes.There's a Lot More to Reference Data Than Just
Data!Business Rules as Customer Interface.New Ways to Link Up.What
about Web-Based Commerce?Harnessing the Dynamics of an Open Rule
Marketplace.
3. Serving Up Knowledge: The Need to Know.
What Is Knowledge Management?And What Does It Have to Do with
Business Rules?Personalized, Never-Ending, On-the-Job
Training.Knowledge Companions for 21st-Century Line Workers.
4.
What about IT Projects?: Where the Rubber Meets the Road.
If We Had Already Started Coding….Meeting Those Project
Deadlines.Two Things Wrong with Traditional Business Systems
Development.Yes, There Is a Better Way!What Business-Driven Really
Means.Getting to the Right Mind-Set.More on What Business-Driven
Really Means.The Business Model.The Policy Charter.A Small-Sized
Big Picture.The True Business Analyst.The Go-To Guy for
21st-Century Business Systems.
II. BUSINESS RULE CONCEPTS: THE MECHANICS OF BUSINESS
SYSTEMS.
Overview.The Marvelous Organism.A New View of Business
Systems.
5. Organizing Basic Business Knowledge: What You Need to
Know about Terms and Facts.
Terms and Facts.About Terms.About Facts.Using Graphic Fact
Models.The Fact Model and Behavior.
6. Exercising Control: What
You Need to Know about Rules.
Rules for Control.Rules and Events.About Violations of
Rules.Implications of Rules Playing the Central Role.Ways in Which
Rules Can Exercise Control: Functional Categories of
Rules.Rejectors.Producers.Projectors.Expanding the Coverage of
Rules.Suggestions and Guidelines.Handling Exceptions.Rules and
Guidance in the Business Rule Approach.
7. Doing Work: What You
Need to Know about Processes.
Challenges Facing Businesses Today.Putting Business Rules to
Work.Building on What You Know.Basing Procedures on Terms and
Facts.Basing Procedures on Rule Independence.Including People in
Scripts.Implications for the Business Side.Back to
Training.Building on What You Already Know How to Do.Normal Reuse
of Scripts.Abnormal Reuse of Scripts.
III. BEST PRACTICES FOR EXPRESSING RULES: BRS
RULESPEAK.
Overview.
8. Expressing Rules: The Dos and Don'ts.
Not How, Not Where, Not Who, Not When.Not Procedural.Not
Inscrutable.Not Impossible.Always Built on Terms and Facts.No AWOL
Facts.No Fluff.No Plural Subjects.Careful about Iffy Starts.No AWOL
Subjects.Careful about Actors as Subjects.No Commands.No
CRUD.Careful about Events as Subjects.Careful to QualifyCareful to
Extract Embedded Computations.Careful to Isolate Your Logic.And No
Etc..
9. Developing Rule Statements: The Basics of BRS
RuleSpeak.
About the Rule Sentence Templates.Success Factors in Using the
Templates.Fundamental Concepts.Every Rule Has a Functional
Category.Every Rule Should Have a Subject.Every Rule Should Use a
Rule Word.Every Rejector Has a Flip Side.Every Permission Statement
Should Use a Permission Word.Any Rule Can Be Qualified.Any Rule Can
Include a Time Bracket.Any Rule Can Reference a Value.Basic Usage
Notes.Using Shall.Using Should.Using May.Using No.Using
Not…Not.Using Or and And.Special Usage Notes.Using Rule Types in
RuleSpeak.Using A, Some, and Each.Using Strictly ANDed and ORed
Conditions.
10. Functional Categories of Rules: The BRS Rule
Classification Scheme.
11. Sentence Patterns for Rule Statements: The RuleSpeak
Templates.
The Basic RuleSpeak Templates at a Glance.
12. Expressing
Business Logic by Using Decision Tables: The RuleSpeak
Approach.
When Decision Tables Should Be Used.Decision Tables Involving One
Evaluation Term.Decision Tables Involving Two Evaluation
Terms.Decision Tables Involving Three or More Simple Evaluation
Terms.Decision Tables Involving More Complex Sets of Decision
Criteria.Appropriate Outcomes for Decision Tables by Functional
Category of Rule.
IV. WHAT IS THE BUSINESS RULE APPROACH?: READINGS FOR IT
PROFESSIONALS.
Overview.
13. More Principles of the Business Rule Approach: A
New View of Business Logic.
The Basic Principles of Rule Management.Databasing Your Rules.What
Is a Business Rule?Separating the “Know” from the “Flow”.Business
Rules and the “Flow”.Correcting Some Misconceptions about Business
Rules.Business Rules and the “Know”.Rules for Processes and Rules
for Products/Services.Why Business Rule Methodology Is
Different.What It Means to Mean Business.Analysis
Paralysis.Preventing the Disease Behind the Symptoms.
14. More
about Fact Models: Structuring the Basic Business
Knowledge.
Critical Success Factors for Fact Models.Organizing the Basic
“Know” Part.Doing the Data Model Right for Business Rules.Using
Rules to Reduce the Impact of Change.
V. A THEORY OF BUSINESS RULES: A TUTORIAL ON THE FORMAL BASIS
FOR BUSINESS RULES AND BUSINESS RULE NOTATION.
Overview.
15. Three Perspectives on Business Rules: A Framework
for Formal @AHEADS = Discussion.
The Three Perspectives.A Word about Terms.A Word about
Types.Special Terminology.
16. The Theoretical Foundation of
Rules: About Formal Constraints.
The Formal Definition of Rule.More on Terms.Terminology: Instances
and Classes, Values and Variables.Rule Notation.Constraints:
Rejection versus Inference.
17. The Theoretical Foundation of
Facts: About Predicates.
Predicates and Facts.Predicate at the Business Manager's
Perspective.Predicate at the System Developer's
Perspective.Predicate at the Technical Designer's
Perspective.Facts: Type versus Instance.The Existence Principle.A
Brief Introduction to R-Notation for Facts.Inferencing and
Deduction Revisited: Using Predicates.
18. Higher-Order Rules:
Pattern-R Rule Types.
The Definition of Pattern-R Rule Types.Examples of Pattern-R
Rules.Example 1: The Monitor Rule.Example 2: The Union Rule.The
Assembly of Pattern-R Rule Types.Part 1: The Yield-Value
Function.Part 2: The Truth-Valued Function.Assembly of Example 1:
The Monitor Rule.Assembly of Example 2: The Union
Rule.
Appendices for Part V.
Appendix A. Evaluating the Truth Value of a Rule.Appendix B. Terms
at the Technical Designer's View.Appendix C. The Fundamental Kinds
of Rules.Appendix D. About the IF…THEN…Syntax.Appendix E. Halpin's
Definitions for Fact and Related Terms.Appendix F. Semantics in the
Relational Model.Appendix G. Basic Operators and Higher-Order Rule
Types.Appendix H. Formalization of the Pattern-R Approach.Appendix
I. What Does Declarative Mean?Appendix J. The “Mary” Inferencing
Example Step-by-Step.Appendix K. More on R-Notation for
Facts.Appendix L. Special Built-In Fact Types in
R-Notation.
Glossary.
Bibliography
Index. 0201788934T01212003Promotional Information
The idea of Business Rules has been around for a while. Simply
put, a Business Rule is a statement that defines or constrains some
aspect of the business. In practice they are meant to reduce or
eliminate the delays, waste, and frustration associated with the IT
department having to be involved with almost every action affecting
an organization's information systems. The advent of Web services
has created renewed interest in them. There are now several well
established rules-based products that have demonstrated the
effectiveness of their use. But until now there has not been a
definitive guide to Business Rules. Ron Ross, considered to be the
father of Business Rules, will help organizations apply this
powerful solution to their own computer system problems. This book
is intended to be the first book that anyone from an IT manager to
a business manager will read to understand what Business Rules are,
and what how they can be applied to their own situation.
About the Author
Ronald G. Ross is cofounder and principal of Business Rule
Solutions, LLC, a firm that provides workshops, consulting
services, and publications centered on business analysis and rules.
He codeveloped ProteusaA A methodology, including the popular
RuleSpeakaA A . He also serves as executive editor of
www.BRCommunity.com and is a regular columnist for the
internationally acclaimed Business Rules Journal hosted there.
0201788934AB01132003