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What Business Rules Are About
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About the Author
Ronald G. Ross
Ronald G. Ross is recognized internationally as the ‘father of business rules.' He is Co-Founder and
Principal of Business Rule Solutions, LLC, where he is active in consulting services, publications,
the Proteus® methodology, and RuleSpeak®. Mr. Ross serves as Executive Editor of BRCommunity.com and
as Chair of the Business Rules Forum Conference. He is the author of nine professional books, most
recently Building Business Solutions: Business Analysis with Business Rules (2011). Mr. Ross speaks and gives popular public seminars across the
globe. His blog: http://www.ronross.info/blog/
Business Rule Concepts:
Getting to the Point of Knowledge (Third Edition)
By Ronald G. Ross
Format: 157 pages / Paperback
Publisher: Business Rule Solutions, LLC (July 2009)
ISBN: 0-941049-07-8
Price:
$29.95
What You'll Find on the Inside of the 3rd Edition of Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge
Part 1: The Key Ideas
Chapter 1. What You Need to Know About Structured Business Vocabularies
A good business analyst seeks to ensure that each concept of the day-to-day operational business is represented in the business vocabulary, one and only one time. The goal is to ensure that all terms and facts are unified, unique and well-defined. Only by that means can business rules and other forms of business communication be expressed consistently.
Chapter 2. What You Need to Know About Business Rules
Business rules should be externalized from processes and established as a separate resource. Rule Independence permits direct management of the business rules, so they can evolve at their own natural pace rather than that of the software release cycle. Other benefits include consistent decisioning, better process models, and much closer tie-in to the business side (a.k.a. business alignment). Business rules achieve true agility.
Chapter 3. What You Need to Know About Rulebook Management
Business rules and business vocabulary must be managed in concert. These tasks are very unlike managing the artifacts of software development and should not be mixed together. The former should be undertaken purely as a business proposition, using a general rulebook system (GRBS). Business rules and the governance of the enterprise are inherently and inextricably linked. The implication is that the better your company gets at business rules - and rulebook management - the better it can become at the nuts and bolts of governance. The goal - smart governance.
Part 2: Business Vocabularies and Fact Models
Chapter 4. Verb-ish Models for Verbalization
Data models and class diagrams are generally created to serve design purposes. If they include verbs at all, they are not vetted against business rules or other forms of operational business communication. Verbalization depends on well-constructed sentences, which in turn puts a premium on verbs. Fact models provide the basis for consistent and unambiguous verbalization, as well as for the design of IT artifacts. It is time to recognize full-fledged human communication as the starting point for anything written about business operations, including but not limited to, business rules and IT requirements.
Chapter 5. Creating a Fact Model
In the past, many business people and subject matter experts have been intimidated by data models, class diagrams, and similar IT-centric artifacts. That's unfortunate. A fact model should never be viewed as representing anything more than just what it is - a structured business vocabulary covering the basic concepts of day-to-day business operations. The fact model simply makes that basic knowledge explicit. It can be developed logically, step by step.
Chapter 6. Special-Purpose Elements of Structure
Certain elements of structure useful in fact modeling come in handy, pre-defined shapes, including properties, categorizations, compositions, and classifications. These special connections between noun concepts extend the reach and power of the fact model significantly. They also allow business rules and other forms of business communication to be written with great precision and clarity.
Part 3: Business Rules
Chapter 7. Business Rules
Business rules cover all the kinds of guidance needed for day-to-day business operations. Business rules fall into two fundamental categories: rules that shape concepts, and rules that guide human activity. These rules are called definitional rules and behavioral rules, respectively. Understanding guidance from the perspective of business people also involves non-rules (advices), guidelines, exceptions, definitions, business policies, and more. Business analysts need to understand how business rules should be expressed, and when they are practicable and whole (trustworthy).
Chapter 8. Business Rules and Events: Flash Points
The large majority of business rules have multiple flash points - events when they need to be evaluated. These flash points are inherent to any business rule expressed declaratively. No flash point should ever be mentioned in stating a business rule unless first verified as specifically expressing business intent. Separation of business rules from events has many important benefits.
Chapter 9. The Art of Business Rules
Business rules are now an object of study and expertise in their own right - a new and exciting business competency. Key skills that business analysts need in that regard include rule reduction, validation and verification (rule quality), and decision tables. The goal is business rules that are anomaly-free, highly re-usable, and easily understood.
Part 4: Enterprise Design
Chapter 10. Smart Architectures and the Point of Knowledge
The point of knowledge is a real place. POK is where the know-how of day-to-day business operations is developed, applied, assessed, and ultimately retired - that is, where business rules happen. In smart architectures, business systems become knowledge companions, enabling never-ending, on-the-job training. Real-time evaluation of business rules enables personalized, just-in-time delivery of completely up-to-date business guidance. Today's formidable business challenges - the accelerating rate of change, massive customization, and knowledge-rich products and services - demand effectively engineered POKs.
Chapter 11. Business Rules and Business Processes
A business process model is an end-to-end, results-oriented view of the tasks appropriate for a planned, optimal response to a significant business event. Business rules capture the decision logic needed for such activity. Business process models can be greatly simplified by taking the business rules out and addressing them separately. The resulting business processes is more stable, and can serve as a framework for managing cross-organizational business activity.
Chapter 12. Envisioning Really Smart Systems: Dynamic, Thin, Throwaway Procedures
The net result of flash-point re-use of procedures based on violations of business rules is a truly dynamic work environment. Procedures are stitched together automatically just-in-time based on what any given actor knows (or doesn't) about current business practices. To an outside observer, the resulting work environment would probably seem indeterminate. But that's just the grand illusion of really smart systems.