The document outlines essential business rules, including types of assertions (structural, action, and derivation) and considerations for documenting and managing these rules. It includes specific examples related to lumber allocation, tax interest rates, and charity operations. It emphasizes the importance of rule validation, stakeholder involvement, and separating business logic from processes.

1. The Rules About Business Rules Hans Aggarwal [email_address] ©2009 Knowledge Edge Group No part of this presentation may be used without permission.

2. Why do you want a Business Rules Presentation?

3. Agenda 3 Types of Business Rules How to Analyze and Document Rules How do you know the Rules are Right? Considerations for Managing Rules

4. Is this a Business Rule? Handout of statements In groups Which ones represent business rules or sets of business rules?

5. Is this a Business Rule?  The system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption. For example, if January is subject to a volume restraint, and the company's region has opted for Option B, the company's original quota is 112% of the Regional Quota Value; determined to be 3.34% of the monthly expected U.S. consumption multiplied by a price adjustment factor (when the framing lumber composite (FLC) average monthly price is at $US336 or over, the factor is 1; when the FLC average monthly price is at $US316-335, the factor is 32/34; when the FLC average monthly price is at US$315 or under, the factor is 30/34). AND SO ON...  Interest rates for income tax, for the first calendar quarter, effective from January 1 to March 31, 2009 are: - The interest rate charged on overdue taxes, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums will be 6%. - The interest rate paid on overpayments will be 4%. - The interest rate used to calculate taxable benefits for employees and shareholders from interest-free and low-interest loans will be 2%.  A charity should be aware of the following requirements: - Limit using the charity's resources for social activities and fundraising activities as they generally are not considered charitable. - Do not engage in any activities that may directly or indirectly support or facilitate an act of terrorism. - Do not engage in any prohibited political activities, such as supporting or opposing a political party or candidate for public office. - Gift only to qualified donees (for example, other registered charities). - Engage in only related business activities that accomplish or promote the charity's purposes, if the charity is designated as a charitable organization or a public foundation. - Do not engage in any business activities if the charity is designated as a private foundation.  A customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location.  Only a Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file.

6. 3 Types of Business Rules www.businessrulesgroup.org Structural assertion - some aspect of the structure of an enterprise All employees belong to a responsibility centre Relationships Employee is known by a first name, middle initial and last name, or an employee number Attributes Student worker is a type of employee Facts Employee, timesheet, leave, responsibility centre Terms

7. 3 Types of Business Rules Action assertion – limit or constraint on the actions of the enterprise A manager or the individual acting as manager can approve the leave after it has been accepted by Human Resources Integrity/ Validation An employee’s manager or the individual acting as the employee’s manager can approve the employee’s leave Authorization An employee cannot exceed his/her yearly paid leave allowance Condition

8. 3 Types of Business Rules Derivation - knowledge that is derived from other knowledge in the enterprise An employee is considered a new employee if the employee has not been assigned to a responsibility centre Inference Yearly paid leave allowance is the employee type percentage multiplied by the number of working days in a year Calculation

9. 3 Types of Business Rules Use handout of business rules In groups Can you classify the business rules?

10. 3 Types of Business Rules Derivation - calculation The system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption. For example, if January is subject to a volume restraint, and the company's region has opted for Option B, the company's original quota is 112% of the Regional Quota Value; determined to be 3.34% of the monthly expected U.S. consumption multiplied by a price adjustment factor (when the framing lumber composite (FLC) average monthly price is at $US336 or over, the factor is 1; when the FLC average monthly price is at $US316-335, the factor is 32/34; when the FLC average monthly price is at US$315 or under, the factor is 30/34)..... Structural - fact Interest rates for income tax, for the first calendar quarter, effective from January 1 to March 31, 2009 are: - The interest rate charged on overdue taxes, Canada Pension Plan contributions, and Employment Insurance premiums will be 6%. - The interest rate paid on overpayments will be 4%. - The interest rate used to calculate taxable benefits for employees and shareholders from interest-free and low-interest loans will be 2%. Structural - relationship A customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location. Action - authorization Only a Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file.

11. How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Documentation can be based on type Structural Glossary, data dictionary Class/object model, entity relationship/data model Action Use case model, use case specification Decision table/tree, operations in class model Derivation Decision table/tree, psuedo code, spreadsheet Operations in class model

12. How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Structural A customer can have more than one name because it could be part of a large, multinational corporation, and we are brokering a policy for only one location.

13. How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Action Senior Records Manager can correct the contents of a file. Junior Records Analyst and Senior Records Analyst can check-in and check-out files from the file room. Senior Records Analyst can add documents to a file, start new files, and close files when the case is complete.

14. How to Analyze and Document Business Rules Derivation The system needs to determine the volume of softwood lumber that a company can expend in a month. A company will be allocated an original volume based on the company's Region Quota Value and the month's Prevailing Monthly Price and Expected US Consumption… ? ? N ? N Y Company Original Quota Region Opted for Option B Month is Subject to Volume Restraint 112% of RQV Y Y

15. How do you Know the Rules are Right? Walkthroughs of rule sets with SMEs Actual cases which represent real data Resolve discrepancies Authoritative stakeholder

16. Considerations for Managing Business Rules Separation of business logic from business processes Business Processes - activity flow, task assignment, deadlines and escalation, and exception handling Business Logic – rules used to make decisions Increase visibility of business rules/logic Consistency, flexibility

17. Considerations for Managing Business Rules Business Rule Management System A rules repository Governance, versioning, traceability, reuse Standard documentation, structuring Specific automation – rules engine

18. Useful References www.businessrulesgroup.org BABok v1.6, Chapter 5 Appendix www.fairisaac.com www.ilog.com - now part of IBM