Enabling Operational Excellence
Enabling Operational Excellence
Enabling Operational Excellence
Enabling Operational Excellence

TURNING OPERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE & COMPLIANCE INTO A COMPETITIVE EDGE

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How to Make Your Business Rules Context-Sensitive

Want context-sensitive business rules? It doesn’t necessarily work the way you think it might. Let’s take an example: A client must have a physical address. That’s the rule; it just says what it says. Separately from the rule itself, several things can be specified:
    • How strictly the rule is to be enforced. Such specification might be: ‘strictly enforced’, ‘override with prior authorization’, ‘override with explanation’, ‘guideline’, etc.
    • What response and/or message is appropriate when the rule is violated.
Both things can be specified to be context-dependent. Back to the example:
    • Suppose the rule is violated in signing up as a member of a website. The enforcement level might be “guideline” and the response might be “We encourage you to provide this information so that we may serve you better in the future.”
    • Suppose the rule is violated in placing an order. The enforcement level might be “strictly enforced” and the response might be “We’re sorry. But we need your address to send you this order.”
The rule is (still) the rule. It still reads: “A client must have a physical address.”. It hasn’t changed one iota. But its application has now become context-sensitive. People think often think they have far more rules than they actually do. They simply haven’t provided the differential breach specifications needed. I discuss breach responses in the post: http://www.brsolutions.com/2012/06/03/breaking-the-rules-breach-questions/ www.BRSolutions.com

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Ronald G. Ross

Ron Ross, Principal and Co-Founder of Business Rules Solutions, LLC, is internationally acknowledged as the “father of business rules.” Recognizing early on the importance of independently managed business rules for business operations and architecture, he has pioneered innovative techniques and standards since the mid-1980s. He wrote the industry’s first book on business rules in 1994.