Decision Services SOA Symposium

Decision Services A Pattern for Smarter Service-Oriented Systems James Taylor Principal Smart (enough) Systems LLC

Why Smarter Systems? Decision-Making Well-Defined Increasingly Complex Timeliness Days Real-time Objectives Local and clear Complex Trade-Offs Regulations National and simple Complex and global Changes to Strategy Every 3-5 Years Constant Operational Volume Low High

So What IS A Smarter System
Operational
Real-Time
Rapidly evolving - agile
Learning
Demonstrably Compliant
Cost-Effective
Business-Driven

Smarter Systems Make More Decisions People Not Made Embedded People Embedded Not Made New Before After Larger boxes represent more decisions, by volume

Different kinds of decisions Low High High ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INDIVIDUAL DECISION Low DECISION VOLUME High-value, low-volume decisions Medium-value, medium-volume decisions Low-value, high-volume decisions

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Decision Services – A Pattern
Automated decision systems have been a common element of Financial Services application portfolios for some time
With the advent of SOA and component architectures, the idea of a separate Decision Service has become widely accepted
As the cost of technology has fallen and awareness increased, the approach has been validated

Applications have evolved Data Process Logic User Interface Browser BPM Services

Evolution Completed A self-contained, callable service with a view of all the conditions and actions that need to be considered to make an operational business decision. Decision Services A service that answers a business question for other services and processes. What is a decision service? Services

Problem
Some business services implement decisions
These services must follow policies and regulations
These services must be easy to change
These services must be driven “by the numbers”
These services simplify business processes
These services often replace high-change elements of legacy applications

Many Forces At Work

The Solution
ENTERPRISE DECISION MANAGEMENT is an approach for automating and improving high-volume operational decisions.
Focusing on operational decisions,
it develops decision services
using business rules to automate those decisions,
adds analytic insight to these services using predictive analytics
and allows for the ongoing improvement of decision-making through adaptive control and optimization .

Process Management
Standardizes processes How should a process be carried out?
Facilitates collaboration and workflow
Process automation around decision-making
Workflow definition and management
Integration broker
Decision Management
Standardizes decision-making What should the decision be based on?
Facilitates decision automation and maintenance
Replaces manual decision-making within processes
Business rules definition and management
Decision broker
Decisions and Processes Complementary but not the same

Applicability
Large numbers of policies or regulations apply
Policies and regulations that change a lot
Decisions that require business domain knowledge to understand
Decisions that are complex or have complex interactions
Decisions that the business insists on owning
Decisions requiring analytic insight
Some Combination

Consequences Isolation of Decisions Control and Agility in Business Processes Business Control of Decisions Integration Points for Advanced Analytics Externalization from Legacy Applications

Decision Services in BPM
Processes become complex when decision making is mismanaged
Explicit decision services simplify processes dramatically

Context

Delivering Decision Management

The Evolution Of An Interaction
Automate Decision
Apply rules
Segment customers
Predict risk, value
Optimize decision
Web http://www.f Email Call Center Mobile

Business Rules Are Everywhere Experienced Personnel Regulations Policy Manuals Legacy Systems Historical Data Managed Business Rules

Manageable Business Rules Smart (Enough) Systems, Prentice Hall June 2007. Fig 4.3 If customer is GoldCustomer and Home_Equity_Loan_Value is more than $100,000 then college_loan_discount = 0.5% If member has greater than 3 prescriptions and prescription’s renewal_date is less than 30 days in the future then set reminder=“email” If patient’s age is less than 18 and member’s coverage is “standard” and member’s number_of_claims does not exceed 4 then set patient’s coverage to “standard”

Data Mining - Improve Rules * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Low-moderate income, young High Income High income, low-moderate education Moderate-high education low-moderate income High Moderate education, low income, middle-aged Low education, low income Education Age High

Predictive Analytics – Add Insight 10 20 30 40 Member renews Member fails to renew

Business Rules and Decision Services

Impact May Take Time to Play Out

Use Adaptive Control to Continuously Improve

Adaptive Control Inside a Decision Service

Building Decision Services Smart (Enough) Systems, Prentice Hall June 2007. Fig 5.1 Production Process Enterprise IT Infrastructure Data Warehouse Operational Data Store Business Rules Predictive Analytics Decision Service Adaptive Control

Known Uses
Recommendations
Next Best Action
Underwriting
Fraud Detection
Eligibility
Scheduling
Accounting Allocation
Billing
Dynamic Pricing
…

Wrap Up
Smarter Systems are Needed
Systems must make more decisions
In an SOA world this means Decision Services
Decision Services are a pattern
Well proven
Built on existing technology
Compatible with Rules Centralization
Ready for analytics

Smart (Enough) Systems – The Book
How key business trends impact the decision-making process
Why organizations need systems smart enough to cope with these trends
How decision automation can make their systems smart enough
How to translate decisions into a corporate asset and competitive advantage
The ROI and business impact of better decisions and smarter systems
The core concepts and technologies needed and how they work together
The book is full of insightful examples of problems solved by applying Enterprise Decision Management across various industries and outlines a practical and incremental method for implementing the technology.

Thank You James Taylor [email_address] http://www.smartenoughsystems.com Blog : www.smartenoughsystems.com/wp

Decision Services SOA Symposium

by Decision Management Solutions on Oct 07, 2008

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Decision Services SOA Symposium — Presentation Transcript