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Batting 1000 on Amazon: Our New Book “Building Business Solutions: Business Analysis with Business Rules” Hits Eight 5-Star Reviews (of 8) on Amazon

by Ronald G. Ross on February 22, 2012

Our new book has been extremely well received this far – very gratifying. See the Amazon reviews: http://goo.gl/8lk4u and more comments: http://www.brsolutions.com/b_building_business_solutions_reviewers.php
Two reviewers, George McGeachie and Maria Amuchastegui, made same criticism, both giving the book a 5-star rating anyway. So let me clarify.
George McGeachie wrote: “The point about business rules and deployment is made on [...]

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Want to Make Your Business Process Models Less Complex and More Approachable? There’s a Proven Solution!

by Ronald G. Ross on February 21, 2012

The best way to simplify business process models is to take the business rules out and address them separately.
Example: For a large pharmaceutical client, we reduced a complex 28pp model to just under 4 pages by doing that – nearly an order-of-magnitude reduction in size (and probably even more in terms of complexity). Everyone [...]

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Sign at the Agora in Athens: “Do not take any indecent or defamatory photographs on the site or in the museum.” … Count-Down of Silly Rules from the BBC2011 Contest – #5

by Ronald G. Ross on February 17, 2012

Is there a reason the sign says one must not take indecent or defamatory photographs? Did someone really do that?!
Additional Rule: “It is necessary to obtain special permit from the Archaeological Service in order to take photographs or to film with a tripod.”
And is the first rule not valid if one has a special permit [...]

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‘Concept Model’ vs. ‘Fact Model’ … Where in the World are the Instances?

by Ronald G. Ross on February 16, 2012

In a dramatic development, the new release of SBVR (1.1) has replaced the term “fact type” with “verb concept”, and the term “fact model” with “concept model”, for all business-facing use.[1] Why the problems with “fact type” and “fact model”? Let me see if I can explain.
First some background: Since its inception in the [...]

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How Important is Basic Business Vocabulary? … A Short (True!) Story

by Ronald G. Ross on February 14, 2012

Guest Post
I was teaching a BA class, trying to convey the value of having a prototype. The class was divided into ‘developers’, the BA, and the ‘executive’. The developers were given a bag of duplos, multiple shapes and colors. The executive was given a bag with a completed duplo creation. The instructions were for the [...]

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Hotel requires unique reservation no. for each change in room rate, regardless of length of stay … Count-Down of Silly Rules from the BBC2011 Contest #6

by Ronald G. Ross on February 10, 2012

I called the hotel to reserve for the conference.  The conference rate was not available for all nights I wanted to stay, so I also used my AAA number to secure a favorable rate.  The reservation clerk and I were able to settle on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th nights at the conference rate.  The [...]

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Don’t Fall Victim to the Whirlpool of Decision Hype

by Ronald G. Ross on February 9, 2012

Consider the following behavioral business rule: A renter must not have possession of more than one rental car.
In discussing enforcement of this rule, one reviewer said something to the effect, “We have to think about what happens ‘at the time of the decision’.
Hold on. What ‘decision’?! I don’t see any decision. What ‘decision’ could he [...]

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A Buzzword Like ‘Decision’ that Covers Everything May Soon Cover Nothing

by Ronald G. Ross on February 7, 2012

One thing that concerns me about ‘decision’ or ‘decision management’ is that everything potentially becomes a decision. Software vendors love it when complex problems can be reduced to a single buzzword. Engineers of true business solutions should hate it.
I’m sure I’ll be accused of negativism, so for the record, let me say that top down [...]

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The Fundamental Problem of Software Engineering is Not about Decisioning

by Ronald G. Ross on February 6, 2012

I am always very careful to talk about ‘business rules’, not ‘rules’. We define ‘business rule’ as a criterion used in business operations to guide behavior, shape judgments or make decisions. We have not perceived any poverty of guidance that fits that definition(!).
One reason we always say ‘business rules’ is because we make no attempt [...]

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Emergency Contact Information Required … But Whose Emergency?! Count-Down of Silly Rules from the BBC2011 Contest – #8

by Ronald G. Ross on January 27, 2012

I was not allowed to make an airline reservation without an emergency contact number.  I figured this was a great thing, which should have meant I’d get a phone call to that number in the event of a cancellation or delay.  NOT!  I learned of the cancellation of my 6:40 a.m. flight (for which I [...]

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