the rules about about business rules

The Rules About Business Rules

Hans [email protected]

©2009 Knowledge Edge Group No part of this presentation may be used without permission.

©2009 Knowledge Edge Group No part of this presentation may be used without permission. 2

Why do you want a Business Rules Presentation?


Agenda 3 Types of Business Rules How to Analyze and Document Rules How do you know the Rules are Right? Considerations for Managing Rules


Is this a Business Rule? Handout of statements In groups Which ones represent business rules or

sets of business rules?


Is this a Business Rule?

The system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption. For example, if January is subject to a volume restraint, and the company's region has opted for Option B, the company's original quota is 112% of the Regional Quota Value; determined to be 3.34% of the monthly expected U.S. consumption multiplied by a price adjustment factor (when the framing lumber composite (FLC) average monthly price is at $US336 or over, the factor is 1; when the FLC average monthly price is at $US316-335, the factor is 32/34; when the FLC average monthly price is at US$315 or under, the factor is 30/34). AND SO ON...

Interest rates for income tax, for the first calendar quarter, effective from January 1 to March 31, 2009 are:- The interest rate charged on overdue taxes, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums will be 6%.- The interest rate paid on overpayments will be 4%.- The interest rate used to calculate taxable benefits for employees and shareholders from interest-free and low-interest loans will be 2%.

A charity should be aware of the following requirements:- Limit using the charity's resources for social activities and fundraising activities as they generally are not considered charitable. - Do not engage in any activities that may directly or indirectly support or facilitate an act of terrorism. - Do not engage in any prohibited political activities, such as supporting or opposing a political party or candidate for public office. - Gift only to qualified donees (for example, other registered charities). - Engage in only related business activities that accomplish or promote the charity's purposes, if the charity is designated as a charitable organization or a public foundation. - Do not engage in any business activities if the charity is designated as a private foundation.

A customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location.

Only a Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file.


3 Types of Business Rules www.businessrulesgroup.org

Structural assertion - some aspect of the structure of an enterprise

All employees belong to a responsibility centre

Relationships

Employee is known by a first name, middle initial and last name, or an employee number

Attributes

Student worker is a type of employeeFacts

Employee, timesheet, leave, responsibility centre

Terms

http://www.businessrulesgroup.org/


3 Types of Business Rules Action assertion – limit or constraint on the

actions of the enterprise

A manager or the individual acting as manager can approve the leave after it has been accepted by Human Resources

Integrity/Validation

An employee’s manager or the individual acting as the employee’s manager can approve the employee’s leave

Authorization

An employee cannot exceed his/her yearly paid leave allowance

Condition


3 Types of Business Rules Derivation - knowledge that is derived from

other knowledge in the enterprise

An employee is considered a new employee if the employee has not been assigned to a responsibility centre

Inference

Yearly paid leave allowance is the employee type percentage multiplied by the number of working days in a year

Calculation


3 Types of Business Rules Use handout of business rules In groups Can you classify the business rules?


3 Types of Business Rules

Derivation - calculationThe system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption. For example, if January is subject to a volume restraint, and the company's region has opted for Option B, the company's original quota is 112% of the Regional Quota Value; determined to be 3.34% of the monthly expected U.S. consumption multiplied by a price adjustment factor (when the framing lumber composite (FLC) average monthly price is at $US336 or over, the factor is 1; when the FLC average monthly price is at $US316-335, the factor is 32/34; when the FLC average monthly price is at US$315 or under, the factor is 30/34).....

Structural - factInterest rates for income tax, for the first calendar quarter, effective from January 1 to March 31, 2009 are:- The interest rate charged on overdue taxes, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums will be 6%.- The interest rate paid on overpayments will be 4%.- The interest rate used to calculate taxable benefits for employees and shareholders from interest-free and low-interest loans will be 2%.

Structural - relationshipA customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location.

Action - authorizationOnly a Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file.


How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Documentation can be based on type

Structural Glossary, data dictionary Class/object model, entity relationship/data model

Action Use case model, use case specification Decision table/tree, operations in class model

Derivation Decision table/tree, psuedo code, spreadsheet Operations in class model


How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Structural

A customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location.

Customer Name0..*

Customer Name

Customer

name_list


How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Action

Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file. Junior Records Analyst and Senior Records Analyst can check-in and check-out files from the file room. Senior Records Analyst can add documents to a file, start new files, and close files when the case is complete.

Quality Assurer

File Controller

File Compiler

Correct File

Issue File

Receive File

Add Content to File

Close File


How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Derivation

The system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption…

? ? N

? N Y

Company Original QuotaRegion Opted for Option B

Month is Subject to Volume Restraint

112% of RQV Y Y


How do you Know the Rules are Right?

Walkthroughs of rule sets with SMEs Actual cases which represent real data Resolve discrepancies

Authoritative stakeholder


Considerations for Managing Business Rules

Separation of business logic from business processes Business Processes - activity flow, task

assignment, deadlines and escalation, and exception handling

Business Logic – rules used to make decisions

Increase visibility of business rules/logic Consistency, flexibility


Considerations for Managing Business Rules

Business Rule Management System A rules repository

Governance, versioning, traceability, reuse Standard documentation, structuring

Specific automation – rules engine


Useful References www.businessrulesgroup.org BABok v1.6, Chapter 5 Appendix www.fairisaac.com www.ilog.com - now part of IBM