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Looking to Find Out What Decision Analysis is About? Make Business Processes & Business Architectures Smart? Design Business-Friendly Decision Tables? Write Business-Friendly Business Rules? >>> Free downloads …

by Ronald G. Ross on May 6, 2013

As part of the April announcement of the new 4th edition of my book Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge, I’m pleased to make available some additional complementary (and complimentary!) downloads:
Decision Analysis – A Primer: How to Use DecisionSpeak™ and Question Charts (Q-Charts™) – 49pp
http://www.brsolutions.com/IPSpeakPrimers (free)
Decision Tables – A Primer: How [...]

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What is the DNA of a Business?

by Ronald G. Ross on March 26, 2013

Rhetorical question? Well maybe, but I’ll answer it anyway.
A data model is a tool to organize what a company knows about the world so it can remember it in a systematic way. So yes, that’s like DNA. (I think ‘concept model’ is more accurate than ‘data model’, but let’s leave that discussion for another day.)
But [...]

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A Quick Review of What “Rule”, “Business Rule” and “Business Policy” Mean (in the Real World!)

by Ronald G. Ross on October 25, 2012

From Building Business Solutions: Business Analysis with Business Rules, by Ronald G. Ross with Gladys S.W. Lam, An IIBA® Sponsored Handbook, Business Rule Solutions, LLC, October, 2011, 304 pp, http://www.brsolutions.com/bbs
You can find definitions and discussion of all terms in blue on Business Rule Community: http://www.brcommunity.com/BBSGlossary.pdf

   Reference Sources

[BMM]
The Business Motivation Model (BMM) ~ Business Governance in [...]

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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 [...]

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“Business Rules Are Too Unstructured to Stand Alone.” Au Contraire!!

by Ronald G. Ross on October 7, 2012

A Business Analyst recently said, “Business Rules themselves tend to be too unstructured to stand alone “. Au contraire! Well-expressed business rules are discrete, specific, and context-independent.
Think about laws, regulations, contracts, agreements, deals, policies, etc. as common sources for business rules. Business rules are interpretations that make those things practicable. Those things can certainly stand alone. [...]

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Words of Wisdom re: Business Rules Initiatives from the Sydney BBC Conference … See If You Agree

by Ronald G. Ross on September 13, 2012

From Matthew Cooper’s presentation at the Sydney Building Business Capability (BBC) Conference – Sept. 10-11, 2012 …

“No progress will be made until you achieve a common business vocabulary. You just have to have it.”
“Vocabulary, facts, rules. You can’t do them one at a time. You have to do them together, iteratively.”
“Writing business rules helps you [...]

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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, [...]

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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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Not Much Luck So Far Bringing in Thoughts on Agile *Business* Governance …

by Ronald G. Ross on January 5, 2012

I’m kicking off 2012 with a couple of things I just don’t get. Here’s the third one: I haven’t been able to find anyone so far talking about agile governance. Why not?!
I recently posted this on an architecture and governance forum:
Is there such a thing as ‘agile’ governance’? What would it entail? Looking for ideas [...]

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Business Rules and Expert Systems/AI … Friends or Foes?

by Ronald G. Ross on December 15, 2011

There are very important differences in the traditions of business rules vs. expert systems. Perhaps that’s why business rules had a completely different origin. In any case, they didn’t start finding each other until the late 1990s. (The first Business Rules Forum Conference was in 1997 … and every year since except in 2000.)
The general [...]

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