More Related Content Similar to Five Reasons to Fire Your Rules Consultant (20) More from Decision Management Solutions (7) Five Reasons to Fire Your Rules Consultant1. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions
James Taylor, CEO
They call it a rule engine
They smush process and rules in one
project
They want to do rule harvesting
They want to use ORs, ELSEs,
ELSEIFs…Oh My!
They put off business user
enablement to phase 2
Five Reasons to Fire
Your Rules Consultant
2. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 2
Business Rules Management Systems WORK
Transparency Impact
Analysis
Collaboration Business User
Control
So why doesn’t everyone have one?
3. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 3
Too Many Consultants Use Them Poorly
1. They call it a rule engine
2. They smush process and rules in
one project
3. They want to do rule harvesting
4. They want to use ORs, ELSEs,
ELSEIFs…Oh My!
5. They put off business user
enablement to phase 2
4. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 4
Fired or Hired?
Technical
Rule
Execution
Business
Decision
Management
6. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 6
They Call It A Rule Engine
Original products were limited
Rule engine was critical
Performance was a challenge
Knowing how to “tweak” the engine was
key to success
Now products are robust
Algorithm improvements
Design improvements
Hardware improvements
Engine performance is (almost)
always good enough “out of the box”
7. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 7
In rules, management is to execution
as three parts out of four.
Napoleon Bonaparte
In war, moral power is to physical as three parts out of four.
Napoleon’s notes entitled “Observations on Spanish Affairs,”
August 27, 1808 at the palace of Saint-Cloud
8. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 8
Business Rules Management Systems Have Many Elements
Testing and
Debugging
Technical Rule
Management
Non-technical
Rule
Management
Impact
Analysis
Data
Management
Verification
and Validation
Deployment
Rule
Repository
Decision Service
Generated
Code
Runtime Rule
Package
Business Rules
Engine
Logging
A rule engine is just a small piece of the
complete software stack that is a Business
Rules Management System. Most of the
system is focused on the management,
verification, testing and simulation of the
rules not their execution.
9. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 9
A BRMS is part of a Decision Management Technology Stack
Performance
Management
Enterprise Platform
Data
Infrastructure
Application Context
Decision Service
Decision
Performance
Monitoring
Business Process
Management
Legacy
Applications
Business Rules
Management System
Decision Modeling
Predictive
Analytics
ML
A decision service encapsulates business rules, advanced analytics and even AI technology to deliver
automated decisions to your application context. Leveraging your data, its behavior is defined by a
decision model that also connects its results to business performance for effective decision monitoring.
Packaged
Applications
AI
11. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 11
Decision Are Not Processes
Processes
Flow oriented across roles
Often sequential
Interconnected to outcomes
Stable in ‘what’
Analytics about the process
Decisions
Declarative
Hierarchical
Logically “dense”
Changeable
Analytics change the decision
Different Stakeholders
Different Perspectives
Different Measures
12. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 12
External Data
Big Data
Build Decision Services
Business
Rules
Analytics,
ML and AI
• Business Rules are quick
to change
• Good for regulations,
policies, flash updates
• Less insight-rich than
analytics
• Analytics are insight-rich
but often opaque,
especially ML and AI
• Good for patterns,
trends, categorization
• Must be fed new data and
continuously improved
A decision service
encapsulates business rules,
analytics, ML and AI to
deliver automated decisions
to your application context.
Data about business outcomes and
decisions made is integrated with
external data to close the loop and
improve both rules and analytics
13. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 13
Processes And Decisions Work Better Separately
Process is simplified, robust
Independent process & decision changes
Decisions are reusable
Decisions are easily modeled
Analytics drive decision-making
Process is complex, brittle
Decisions only evolve with process
Hard to share decisions
Hard to model decisions precisely
Hard to apply analytics
SeparateCombined
15. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 15
Rule Harvesting
Make a long list of all the rules
Rules at various levels
Mostly very technical
By looking at code
And talking to IT
Treat all rules the same
Unnecessary documentation
Too much (or little) detail
Put them in a bucket
Hard to track source
Not clear who owns each one
Not clear what each is for
16. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 16
Decision Modeling:
A Business-Centric, DecisionsFirst Journey To A BRMS
Policy Type Claim Date After
Start Date
Contestable Period
Group, Individual <1y, >1y, <2y, >2y Yes/No
1 Group <1y Yes
2 Group >1y No
3 Individual <2y Yes
4 Individual >2y No
Contestable Period
U
17. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 17
Standards-based Decision Models
Show What’s Involved In Digital Decisions
Knowledge
required
Structure of
decision-making
Data required
• Decision models are best
developed using the
Decision Model and
Notation (DMN) standard.
• This defines a notation
showing decisions, their
decomposition into
reusable sub-decisions, the
data each decision needs
and the knowledge
required to define business
rules or analytics for each.
Decision to be
made
18. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 18
Key Benefits of Decision Modeling
• Much faster than traditional
approaches
• In 1 hour developed understanding
“that would have taken 10”
Rapid
• Clarifies real requirements
• Often experienced SMEs learn
something from the modelEnlightening
19. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 19
Decision Models Structure Lists Of Rules
▪ Lists of business rules often group
unlike things
▪ For instance, these lists of rules for
high alert factors and medium alert
factors seem fine
▪ But when allocated out to the
decision model they are easier to
manage
▪ Plus it is clear the lists are
incomplete once they are modeled
20. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 20
Decision Models Can Be Built Iteratively
Build high level models
Pick a decision
Model it in detail
Then model business rules
Repeat for other decisions
▪ Using decision models to
structure BRMS projects
allows them to be developed
and deployed incrementally
▪ This supports agile
development and allows for
check points in waterfall
development efforts
▪ Decision modeling is
naturally iterative
22. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 22
Decision Models Break Down Rules Into Simple Tables
▪ Decision models prioritize
representing business rules as
decision tables
▪ Because the decision model breaks
down all the complexity, each
decision table is simple and self-
contained
▪ Other representations can be used
but decision tables are by far the
most business friendly
23. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 23
Decision Models Structure Even Very Complex Decisions
▪ Decision model diagrams are
views on an underlying model
▪ This allows very complex
models to be broken down and
then displayed clearly using
multiple diagrams
25. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 25
They Put Off Business User Enablement To Phase 2
Phase 1
IT will write the rules
IT will manage the rules
IT will test the rules
IT will deploy the rules
Phase 2
Business users will manage the rules
Business users will simulate the rules
IT will test the rules
IT will deploy the rules
Business as usual
Technical perspective
Testing not simulation
26. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 26
Business User Enablement
Phase 1 or Phase Never!
Maintenance not Creation
Complete environment
Continuous Improvement
▪ Track decision outcomes
▪ Find the decisions that need to change
▪ Change the rules for these decisions
▪ Confirm the impact of the change is as expected
27. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 27
Clear decision model
for all
IT-managed
Transformation
Multiple business rule
lists and documents
Business
IT-Centric
Business-Centric
Business / IT Collaboration
Make Business Rules Development Business-Centric
BRMS
Separate executable
business rules
One set of executable
business rules
BRMS
▪ Excluding IT from business
rules writing can feel like
business empowerment
▪ But a business-only rule
writing approach requires IT
to transform these rules into
something executable
▪ A “purple” approach that has
business and IT work
together on the decision
model is more effective and
more business-centric in
reality
28. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 28
Five Reasons To Fire Your Rules Consultant
1. They call it a rule engine
2. They smush process and rules in
one project
3. They want to do rule harvesting
4. They want to use ORs, ELSEs,
ELSEIFs…Oh My!
5. They put off business user
enablement to phase 2
29. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 29
Adopt a DecisionsFirst Approach to Your BRMS
1. Focus on Rule Management not execution
2. Build managed, reusable Decision Services
3. Capture decisions first, not business rules
4. Use a decision model to manage complexity
5. Engage the business from the start
30. @jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions 30
Thank You
More resources for success with
Business Rules
bit.ly/MaximizeBizRules
Decision Management Solutions
works with clients to improve
their business by applying
business rules and analytic
technology to automate and
improve decisions.
We can help you deliver the
value of a Business Rules
Management System with our
DecisionsFirst approach.
31. Thank You
For more on
Decision Management, go to:
decisionmanagementsolutions.com
@jamet123 #decisionmgt © 2019 Decision Management Solutions
If you have further questions or comments:
James Taylor
CEO, Decision Management Solutions
james@decisionmanagementsolutions.com
+1 650 400 3029