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BUSINESS RULES
INTRODUCTION
A lot has been, and is still
being written, about
Business Rules.
The growing evidence of their
importance stems from the rapid
diffusion of the new
BPMS (Business Process
Management Suite)
systems that,
 themselves a new paradigm of focus in business operations, can be notably
improved if the Business Rules,
instead of being embedded in the
operative procedures, are kept
as an independent tribe,
although in intimate contact
with the Processes.
This
allows for the Process Models to
remain practically unchanged (except
those derived from the
improvements in their design) as
the majority of the changes
originate in variations in the
business environment (market,
policies, strategy,etc.), that
are just what is defined in the
Business Rules.
To
establish procedures and
standards for creating and using
the Business Rules, proposals
that are focused on the
semantics or syntax of the
expressions (almost all in
English) have appeared and
continue to do so, either using
systems of definitions of
terminology linked to data banks
that can be transformed into XML
language or others for
intercomunication in the multi-business
environment that will be
glimpsed in the next few years.
BUT REALLY, WHAT BUSINESS
RULES ARE
In the words of Ronald G. Ross,
one of the most famous world
experts on Business Rules:
 “A business rule is simply a rule that is under business jurisdiction. Under
business jurisdiction is taken
to mean that the business can
enact, revise, and discontinue
their business rules as they see
fit. If a rule is not under
business jurisdiction in that
sense, then it is not a business
rule. For example, the ‘law’ of
gravity is obviously not a
business rule."
This is a very general
definition. Other definitions,
more or less similar, can be
found, but from the perspective
that interests us, which is the
practical application in a
business Processes management
system (BPMS), we can bring the
definition nearer and reach the
Business Rules with the
following statements:
-
Business Rules
are the individual
elements (atomic) that
allow to be defined,
delimited and expressed
in an intelligible form
and in their whole form
the
framework,
the
policies,
the strategy and the
operative
of a company or an
organization.
-
It could be said that
Business Rules are
always present in the
activity of an
organization, either
explicitly (wage
policies, work schedules,
discounts to be applied
depending on sales
conditions, etc.) or
implicitly (courtesy
towards clients, the
responsilibility of a
supervisor for his
subordinates, etc.),
always involving the
direct or indirect
participation of people.
However, the term
Business Rules is
reserved only for those
rules that have an
explicite quality and
can be and are,
expressed in an
understandable form,
registered,
located
and
editable.
-
Business Rules must be
defined and maintained
independently from the
models and processes
with which the company
functions. It isn't that
the Busines Rules have
no conexion to the
Processes, on the
contrary, they have an
intimate and constant
relationship. However
their existence and
personality is born from
the very concept of the
company as an economic-social
being and its aim is to
define with the maximum
granularity its policies
and modus operandi.
Business Rules are not
subject to the Process
definitions and modeling
nor their changes.
This independence from
the Processes
definitions and
modification is of vital
importance to BPMS as it
allows the Processes to
be automatically updated
with company policy
changes without having
to change the model. It
is sufficient to change
the Business Rules being
accessed.
-
Because of their
function, Business Rules
are divided into
Operative, called
this because their
function indicates a
personal call and
therefore can be
infringed (not completed),
and
Structural
which define conditions
and treatments and, not
being dependent on the
actions of people,
cannot be infringed. An
example of an Operative
Rule is: The workers
must wear helmets.
Obviously, if a worker
doesn't wear a helmet he
is infringing this rule.
An example of a
Structure Rule is: A VIP
Client is one who has
bought more than 200,000
€ in the last year. This
rule cannot be infringed.
It could be wrongly
computed if the person
in charge makes an error
when consulting the
clients account. But
this is just a mistake,
not an infringement.
-
Because of their nature
Business Rules can be:
Textual
(readable)
and
Mechanical
(automatic). Textual
Rules show their
contents by textual
expressions and normally
accept some
interpretation although
if they are well
expressed the margen of
deviation should be
small or null. Their
application will always
be made by a person who
wil read or interprete
the Textual Rule. On the
other hand, the
Mechanical Rules are
expressed by way of
formulas, tables or
mathematical expressions
and therefore can be
automated. Their
application can be done
without human
intervention if there is
a computer device
capable of evaluating
and carrying them out in
the operating
environment in which
they act.
As an example of a
Textual Rule, take the
following: R.101.
Investment Purpose: To
award a Loan it is
necessary, but not
sufficient, that the
investment be protected
by current legislation
for 'Preferential
investments'. To
evaluate this Rule, it
is necessary to have an
experienced professional
who knows the law and
then can analyze whether
the investment will
fulfill its requirements.
Therefore, it is not
easy to automate without
human intervention.
As an example of a
Mechanical Rule, take
the following: R.236.
Loan Limit: The Loan
amount cannot be more
than the Limit Amount.
The Limit Amount is
determined in the
attached table by means
of Guarantee Criteria
and Availability of
Funds as described in
their specified Business
Rules. Here it is
possible to
automatically, without
human intervention, and
therefore without
interpreting, compare
the quantities (Loan
amount) with the Limit
Amount expressed in the
attached table. (This
table contains Criterias
that qualify in other
nested Business Rules,
that are indicated in
the same).
As has been said, there are
organizations dedicated to
studying and establishing
standards unifying Business
Rules. To this end, publications
such as SBVR (Semantics of
Business Vocabulary & Business
Rules) of the OMG (Object
Management Group) or the BRS
RuleSpeakTM by Ron Ross are ‘de
facto’ are some guides accepted
by the interested community.
However, the available
documentation suffers from 2
important restrictions:
1- The semantics and syntax
of these Business Rules are
thoroughly studied and
structured methods of
expression are suggested and
are literally correct, but
do not offer a system to
automate them. Systems that
automate the creation and
application of Business
Rules are left to the
criteria, knowledge and
technical possibilities of
companies that develop
software, so each BPMS
environment has its own
system (if it has one) to
automate Business Rules.
2- Everything is done in
English. The studies and
standards are centred
exclusively in this language,
and although the Business
Rules semantics and syntax
can be translated into other
languages, it will be quite
a while before there are
accepted and extended bases
available for processing
text in other languages, as
a norm.
A WORD ABOUT AUTOMATION IN
BUSINESS RULES
Organizations in general,
including of course businesses,
are environments with Processes
or mechanical procedures of
automatic functions (computers,
machinery,instalations, etc.)
and with procedures where people
play an essential part, not only
with their physical work but
also the intervention of their
criteria when making decisions.
The combination of these two
'operating systems' is present
in all human activity. Even the
human body functions with
automatic Processes, on the one
hand, in which decision and
reason do not participate (digestion,
blood circulation etc.) and
others in which the mind makes
decisions (look for food, water,
comfort, relationships, etc.).
It is true that the more
procedures that can be left to
the control of repetitive and
automatic mechanisms, the better
the system will function. But it
is very important not to lose
sight, on the one hand, of the
economic cost this may imply (frequently
to automate is very complex and
sometimes impossible), and on
the other, the loss of
flexibility and adaptability to
change. A computer manage very
efficiently jobs that a human
being would do comparatively
clumsily. But if something is
changed in the environment of
the computer that affects its
internal rules, it would not
know what to do and, it would
stop or begin to make errors,
creating disastrous consecuences.
However, a human is capable (supposedly)
of deciding which alternative to
follow when there are changes or
exceptions. This is the
difference.
In the case
of business operations with
Processes (BPMS), which is our
present subject, this
coexistence also ocurrs. Some
Processes, or activities inside
Processes, are perfectly defined
and are sufficiently repetitive
to be
automated
appropiately as there are hardly
any inconveniences and yet many
advantages. But in other
activities, also in Processes,
the
human intervention,
with their work and decision
taking, it is necessary and
essential. Of these activities,
some could be automated, but the
cost fo this, taking into
account the consecuences of
possible 'automatic errors' in
the procesures or the loss of
flexibility to manage exceptions
and the unexpected, is too high,
which makes automation
unacceptable.
Therefore the maximum
automation must be found, but
without risking the possible
reaction in the case of the
unexpected and without the costs
overshadowing the
benefits
they bring. This is a wise rule
to be applied generally.
This has been kept in mind in
AuraPortal BPMS. The system
provides measures so that not
only can the company
automate
a large part of the Processes
using
Mecanical
Business Rules, but also allows
for certain parts of the
Processes to be left in the
hands of the
Textual
Business Rules which give more
ease of use and flexibility in
the execution of them.
The important practical
consecuence of this is that,
because AuraPortal BPMS has the
necessary tools to powerfully
and efficiently treat both the
Mechanical Business Rules as
well as the Textual ones, it is
possible, even advisable, at the
beginning to use the Textual
Rules more and then, with the
practice and consolidation of
the Process Models, to migrate
slowly towards the inclusion of
more Mechanical Rules which will
substitute the Textual Rules,
insuring a smooth transition
from one stage to another.
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