Business rule

The term business rule or business rule designates English in business computer science as a collective term different types of rules that are used in or in connection with computer programs. It refers not necessarily a matter of business, but business rules can describe even quite elementary technical facts.

A simple example from the field of telecommunications:

IF    the phone call took longer than 30 minutes    AND the phone call from 18:00 clock and 24:00 clock was conducted    AND the tariff of the owner Student ie 30 THEN    apply a 10% discount on the guided call. For the definition of many similar rules a decision table can be used. Such rules form the basis for rule -based systems, which are attributable to the specialized field of artificial intelligence in a broader sense. These were based on the earlier often arisen with the programming language Prolog idea to determine the solution of a problem by systematically try possible combinations of if- then rules. Newer methods in this direction tend more to the use of neural networks.

In many cases we mean by business rules but also something much simpler, namely specifications that describe how a computer program or business process that is controlled by a computer program should behave. For example describes a plausibility rule, usually in the form of a formula, when are valid in an application software input data. This data will only be accepted for storage if all applicable plausibility rules are met. Similarly, there is calculation, visibility, authorization, and many more types of rules that describe the desired behavior of a program or process.

Business rules are often written by a company department as a specification for software developers in the specification and must be incorporated in the computer programs of this manual and time-consuming. Business Rule Management Systems, in short BRMS, here offer the possibility of these rules separately to manage in a business rule repository, the more transparent ( for the Department ), flexibility ( with changes in the business rules ) and cost savings to achieve (through shorter development and change cycles of the computer program ). The design of the rules from the repository is then controlled by a Business Rule Engine. These systems are usually written in the programming languages ​​C or Java.

Goal of a BRMS is the rules from the outset to be isolated from the data access, process and presentation layer of a computer program and to provide a central location at any time for new requirements and other programs.

• Software Engineering
• Business Rule Management