This document provides an overview of a presentation on rule-based design. It begins with introductions of the presenter and their background. It then discusses rule-based design, defining business rules and explaining how they can be used to manage complexity and business processes. It covers different types of business rules and challenges in business rule management. The presentation explains how rule-based design draws from research areas like business rules, software engineering, and design methodology. It contrasts rule-based approaches with workflow-based approaches and outlines implications of the rule-based design approach. Later slides provide examples of formalizing rules from natural language to computer code using techniques like relation algebra.

1. Rule-based Design
Dia 1
Managing complexity!
HU Summer School 2016 - Business Process Management & IT
Rogier van de Wetering, PhD
The Open University of the Netherlands
August 8th 2016, Utrecht

2. Dia 2
Short introduction
Professional experience
• 2015-now Assistant Professor, Management,
Science & Technology, Open University
• 2005-2015 Manager at Deloitte Consulting
• 2010-2013 External lecturer, medical
informatics, Utrecht University
• 2007-2011 PhD research, Utrecht University
Education
• PhD research (‘11), Faculty Mathematics & Computer
Sciences, Utrecht University (A Strategic PACS Maturity
Approach)
• Information Sciences (‘05), Utrecht University, Melbourne
University

3. Dia 3
1 Rule-based Design
‘An introduction’
09.00-09.50
BREAK
Formalizing
‘From natural
language to
relation
algebra’
10.00-10.50
BREAK
Practice
‘Do it yourself’
11.00-12.00
2
3
The path we will follow this morning….

4. Rule-based Design
Dia 4

5. Dia 5
Organizations can in essence be viewed as complex, adaptive socio-
technical systems

6. Familiar Complex Adaptive System…
Dia 6
Adls, (2013), Charting the Changes [ONLINE]. Available at: http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/adls-
media/8725730/financialmarkets.jpg [Accessed 7 July 2016].

7. Dia 7
Familiar Complex Adaptive System…
Shutterstock, (2013), Biomimicry [ONLINE]. Available at: https://s3-eu-west-
1.amazonaws.com/static.nextnature.net/app/uploads/2013/07/ant-bridge_2302146k-640x400.jpg [Accessed 29
June 2016].

8. Technologies and practices that enable innovation and deal with
environmental turbulence
Dia 8
Business RulesRobotics
Internet of
Things
Big data Cloud-computing
Social networks
Mobile /
app
Collaborative
networking
Cyber
security
ComplexAdaptiveSytems
Digital strategy &
innovation
Data-driven
business model
Open data ecosystem
IT-enabled Dynamic
Capabilities
Adaptive Enterprise
Architectures
Watson
Business analytics

9. What do you really need to know about Rule-based Design
Dia 9
Design systems
and processes
Better
communication
Business/IT-
alignment
Rule-based Design
Make IT
manageable
Flexible
organization
Reduce
complexity

10. Dia 10
Business Rules, some definitions:
1
2
3
Business rules represent the primary means by which an
organization can direct its business, defining the operative way to
reach its objectives and perform its actions (Wikipedia)
Statement that defines or constrains some aspect of the business... [which is]
intended to assert business structure, or to control or influence the behavior of
the business. It cannot be broken down or decomposed further into more
detailed business rules. (Business Rules Group)
Business rules formalize mutual agreements between stakeholders,
commitments of managers, rights and obligations of employees, etc.
into ‘laws’, intended to serve the purpose(s) of an organization
(Joosten)

11. Dia 11
Business Rules: verifiable statements
Business rule definition:
“A business rule is a verifiable
statement that some stakeholders
intend to obey, within a certain
context.” ………as intended by the
Business Rules Manifesto

12. Dia 12
Mantra of Business Rules Manifesto
Mantra:
“ Rules build on facts, and facts
build on concepts as expressed by
terms.”

13. Dia 13
Mantra of Business Rules Manifesto
Mantra:
“ Rules build on facts, and facts
build on concepts as expressed by
terms.”
Client, Bill, Supplier, etc.
Bills are sent to
customers.
Every sent item (to a
customer) must be
billed.

14. A. Our policies are transparent to the outside world
B. Rogier goes to bed in the evening and gets up in the
morning
C. E = mc2
D. Johan Versendaal went to the club last night
E. Pascal is an expert on BPM
Dia 14
Question: Are these examples of ‘Rules’?

15. Rule examples
Dia 15
Banking and insurance
Every application gets a decision
IT service desk
Every (customer/client) call
involves at least one hardware- or
software component
Order management
An order contains no other kinds
of plant than the combined pick
orders
Consumer business
Every sent item must be billed

16. Dia 16
Business Rules Manifesto: Principles of Rule Independence
Articles 1-5
1. Primary Requirements, Not
Secondary
2. Separate From Processes, Not
Contained In Them
3. Deliberate Knowledge, Not A
By-Product
4. Declarative, Not Procedural
5. Well-Formed Expression, Not
Ad Hoc
Articles 6-10
6. Rule-Based Architecture, Not
Indirect Implementation
7. Rule-Guided Processes, Not
Exception-Based Programming
8. For the Sake of the Business,
Not Technology
9. Of, By, and For Business
People, Not IT People
10.Managing Business Logic, Not
Hardware/Software Platforms

17. • Business rules actually define the business process
• Signal violations (in real time) and act to resolve them
• Business rules are sufficient as an instrument to design
compliant business processes and information systems
• The role of information technology is to help maintain
business rules
• If any rule is violated (perhaps temporarily), a computer can
signal that and prompt people to resolve the issue
Dia 17
Business rules can be used to manage and control business
processes

18. Dia 18
There are several important categories of business rules:
1
2
43
5
Event-condition-action-rule
Computation / Derivation rule
Invariant rules
Imperative rules
Condition-action-rule

19. Dia 19
Business Rule Management; dealing with various challenges
Complete and
consistent
Getting
stakeholders
to commit
Communicate
with right
stakeholders
Balance
between
‘Rules’ and
‘People’
Alignment with
business goals
Key
challenges
Some challenges

20. Dia 20
Rule-based Design draws on research on business rules, software
engineering, relation algebra, and design methodology
• Puts functional requirements at the focal point of the design of business
processes and information systems
• Elicit requirements from various audiences, helping these audiences to make
their wishes concrete
• This requires communicative and advisory skills
• Requirements engineer must interpret requirements to select or write business
rules
• This requires technical insight in information systems that support business
processes
• Requirements engineer must help stakeholders with solutions rather than
endless questions
• Rule-based Design helps requirements engineers with tools that automate large
parts of the design process

21. • Systems and people together form a system that lives by rules; this leads to
compliance
• Business process management (BPM) is in fact also included: BPM is all about
handling cases
• Cases are governed by a set of rules (e.g. the credit approval procedure)
• When all rules are satisfied (no violations) the case is closed: rule based BPM!
• There is a big difference: workflow based approaches derives actions from
workflow and process models
• We define business rules declarative; invariant rules
Dia 21
Rule-based Design vs workflow based approaches

22. Dia 22
Within Rule based BPM any violation of a business rule may be used
to trigger actions
• If rules are found to be violated, the
detector signals a process engine
• The process engine distributes work
to people and computers, who take
appropriate actions
• Follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
• Actions are not specified, but derived!
• Use business rules to define business
processes

23. • You define the process
• Common basis for data and process side of IS/IT
• Requires formal method
• System boundaries can be articulated
• Functional behavior of the system is defined
• Proof that the system meets specification
Dia 23
The Rule-Based design approach has some important implications

24. Designer’s perspective for rule based process management
Dia 24
Design artifacts
Rule base
IS development
environment

25. Dia 25
Rule Maturity: Five Steps to an Agile Enterprise

26. Dia 26
10 min.

27. Formalizing Business Rules
Dia 27

28. Dia 28
A brief recap: what have we learned
Rule-
based
Design
Business Rules are verifiable statements
Rules build on facts, and facts build on concepts as
expressed by terms
There are various types of Rules
Actions are not specified
Systems and people together form a system that
lives by rules; this leads to compliance
Requires formal method

29. Dia 29
Concepts and relations
concept identifier verb concept identifier
Employer
Shell
HU
OU
Microsoft
Employee
Joris
Pascal
Rogier
Johan
Mark Rutte
works at
works at
works at
works at
works at
Target Source

30. Dia 30
Concepts and relations: a conceptual model
Concept
Relation
NO RULES

31. Dia 31
Concepts and relations: an instance diagram

32. Dia 32
Concepts and relations: : instance diagram of a composition
Actor possesses at
least one of the
Skills required for the
Role

33. Dia 33
A client name and call identifier is entered. Are there any violations?
Rule 1: Every call must get an
acceptable response.
Rule 2: Every call is entered by
exactly one client.
Rule 3: Every call involves at
least one hardware- or software
component
Rule 4: Every response
describes at least one problem
solution that applies to at least
one component involved in the
call.
The engine will detect various violations

34. Dia 34
Formalizing rules from Natural language to computer code
From ‘Natural language’
To ‘Semi-formal language’
(e.g. RuleSpeak and other CNLs)
To ‘Formal notation’
(using mathematical principles, e.g. relation algebra, predicate logic,
Boolean algebra, etc.)
To ‘Application’
(Script language)
Normal sentence
For...(concept)...
Must (not)
be...(...)...if
IF..THEN..MUST
Only plants in stock may be
ordered
if an Order is for a Species,
then some Stock exists such
that the
Order affects that Stock and
that Stock is of that Species
is_for  affects ; is_of

35. Dia 35
Founders of the calculus of relations; relation algebra
Augustus De Morgan Charles Sanders Peirce
Ernst Schröder Alfred Tarski

36. Rules assertion within relation algebra
Dia 36
Left-expression  Right-expression
consequent
..implies..
consequent
Set theoretic perspective

37. Rules assertion within relation algebra
Dia 37
R  S
is_for 
affects ; is_of
• IF ..R.. THEN..S..
• R implies S
• If something exist in R, then that
also must exist in S
General caseSpecific case
if an Order is_for a Species,
then some Stock exists such
that the Order affects that
Stock and that Stock is_of that
Species

38. Dia 38
RuleSpeak®: set of guidelines for expressing business rules in
concise, business-friendly fashion

39. • Omitting a Rule Keyword is not good
Every Business Rule Statement should include “must” or “only”. (An order must indicate the customer who places it.)
• “Can” is not good
A customer may purchase a pesticide from a supplier only if the supplier sells that pesticide)
• Extra words for emphasis are not good
A shipment must have a status with no exceptions.
• “To have” is often not good
A team must have a manager. => A team must be managed by a manager.
• Starting with ‘if’ is not good
If an employee is retired, then he must not be assigned an employment counselor => A retired employee must not be
assigned an employment counselor.
• Plural subjects are not good
Programmers must work on a system.
• Actor subjects are frequently not good
A customer may make a withdrawal only if their account is active =>
A withdrawal for an account may be made only if the account is active
Dia 39
RuleSpeak®: some guidelines

40. DEMO using Ampersand method RAP2
Dia 40
http://is.cs.ou.nl/rap2/index.php

41. Dia 41
10 min.

42. Practice
Dia 42

43. Dia 43
A brief recap: what have we learned
Relations
Relation algebra / script language
Rules
Business Rules are verifiable
statements
If something exist in R, then that
also must exist in S
Formalizing
Left-expression  Right-expression
..implies..
consequent
From ‘Natural language’
To ‘Semi-formal language’
To ‘Formal notation’
To ‘Application’

44. Dia 44
Assignment introduction for teams
1. Select a case (see next sheet)
2. Select a typical (simple) process (or sub-process)
3. Identify a business ‘problem’ (be creative!) – related to this process, or
as a result of executing this process
4. Define 3-4 concepts and their ‘atoms’ (Course: BPN, EA, RBD, IT-
governance, etc.)
5. Draw a conceptual diagram
6. Define some relations
7. Formulate a couple of ‘Rules’ (e.g. in natural language, CNL,
RuleSpeak, etc.) – Cycle chasing
We will work on this in teams of 4. After 30 minutes, the teams shortly
present their outcomes!

45. Dia 45
Various cases, pick one!
1. Healthcare: patient registration 2. Education: course registration 3. FSI: loan / mortgage approval
A) HR-process: Bonus payment B) Order management: sending bill IND: application decision making
IndustryProcess/case

46. Q&A
Dia 46

47. • Van de Wetering, R., & Bos, R. (2016). A meta-framework for Efficacious
Adaptive Enterprise Architectures, in Proceedings of the International
Conference on Business Information Systems. 2016, Springer International
Publishing: Leipzig, Germany. [download] [download]
• Van de Wetering, R. (2016). Modeling Alignment as a Higher Order Nomological
Framework, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Business
Information Systems. 2016, Springer International Publishing: Leipzig, Germany.
[download] [download]
• Mikalef, P., Pateli, A., & Van de Wetering, R. (2016). IT flexibility and competitive
performance: The mediating role of IT-enabled dynamic capabilities, in the
Proceedings of the 24th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).
[download] [download]
• Van de Wetering, R., & Batenburg, R. (2014). Towards a Theory of PACS
Deployment: An Integrative PACS Maturity Framework. Journal of Digital
Imaging, 27(3), 337-350. [download] [download]
Dia 47
Further reading on adaptive principles, alignment and dynamic
capabilities

48. Contact
Dia 48
dr. R. (Rogier) van de Wetering
Assistant Professor
Faculty Management, Science & Technology
nl.linkedin.com/in/rvandewetering
twitter.com/drvandewetering
researchgate.net/profile/Rogier_Van_de_Wetering2
openuniversiteit.academia.edu/RVanDeWetering