Rule Management

Changes in Business Policy? Think Rulebook Management & Smart Governance

by Ronald G. Ross on June 14, 2013

United Airlines recently rolled out this new business policy regarding upgrades on one of its routes. Once you get past the fluff, it simply says its Houston-Lima route is no longer eligible for free upgrades. A practicable version of the business policy would be a bit wordier.
How easy would it be for your company to deploy a change [...]

Read the full article →

Changes in Business Policy? Think Rulebook Management & Smart Governance

by Ronald G. Ross on January 10, 2013

United Airlines today rolled out this new business policy regarding upgrades on one of its routes. How easy would it be for your company to roll out a change in business policy like this to all operations and all systems with a single click?

Read the full article →

What Are the Oldest Rulebooks in the World?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 28, 2012

guest post by Cay Hasselmann
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two oldest references on a business rule language I personally could find was in the British Library.
One was on the building of the Pyramid in the Cheops Dynasty (2613-2498 BC), where 100,000 workers were involved for over 20 years. In some scrolls you will find what I would say are [...]

Read the full article →

What do you need for success in managing business rules as a business proposition, not an IT responsibility?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 15, 2012

Guest Post by Alexander Davidge
~~~~~~~
Alexander’s response to the title question, and to my post: http://goo.gl/fn96B … My reply and a prediction below.
Firstly Ron, it is absolutely a business space and responsibility. However, understanding the architecture of information and systems will as often as not be required.
There are many areas with typically high IT asosociations such [...]

Read the full article →

Business Rule Manifesto FAQs Added to BRCommunity.com

by Ronald G. Ross on October 12, 2012

I am pleased to announce that a comprehensive set of authoritative FAQs about the Business Rules Manifesto has been added to BRcommunity.com: http://www.brcommunity.com/brm.php
The Manifesto is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – and remains as powerful and as vibrant to today’s business challenges as ever. I will be covering a good many of its insights [...]

Read the full article →

What Rulebooks, Rulebook Management and GRBS Are About

by Ronald G. Ross on October 11, 2012

You can find definitions and discussion of all terms in blue on Business Rule Community: http://www.brcommunity.com/BBSGlossary.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
rulebook:  the collection of elements of guidance for a business capability, along with the terms, definitions, and wordings that support them
Discussion:  The rulebook of a game enumerates all the do’s and don’ts (rules) of that game along with the terms [...]

Read the full article →

‘Rules of Record’ … Why ‘System of Record’ Isn’t Enough

by Ronald G. Ross on October 2, 2012

Business computing today is characterized by a tangled web of interfaces and data movement from system to system, from source to sink. Knowing the official ‘systems of record’ is basic for resolving discrepancies and demonstrating compliance.
But that’s merely a start. What your business really needs today is to know the rules of record. A focus [...]

Read the full article →

Black Swans, Business Rules, and Strategy – Re-Clarified

by Ronald G. Ross on July 2, 2012

Let me re-clarify what I am, and am not, saying about business rules and black swans. There’s been some confusion. I did not say that preparing for or responding to black swans is all about business rules. (I’m not that naive!)
I did say, however, that business rules “… build robustness to negative [black swans] that [...]

Read the full article →

Black Swans, Business Rules, and Strategy – Continued

by Ronald G. Ross on June 28, 2012

I’ve gotten a lot of excellent response to yesterday’s post on black swans. Let me summarize yesterday’s points and continue the line of thought.
a. Business rules cannot be used to help protect against unforeseeable events that have not already happened.

b. Business analysts can assess unforeseeable events (black swans) and develop business rules to cater [...]

Read the full article →

Business Policies vs. Business Rules: What’s the Big Difference Anyway?

by Ronald G. Ross on June 13, 2012

The relevant standard on the question is OMG’s Business Motivation Model (BMM). I prefer the English (not UML) version: http://www.businessrulesgroup.org/second_paper/BRG-BMM.pdf.
Business policies and business rules are both ‘elements of guidance’. The difference is that business policies are not practicable, whereas business rules always are.  A business rule must be ready to deploy to the business, [...]

Read the full article →