Business rules and information systems: aligning IT with business goals

382 Pages·2002·4.96 MB·English

by  Tony Morgan

• Table of Contents
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Business Rules and Information
Systems:Aligning IT with Business Goals
By Tony Morgan

Publisher: Addison Wesley
Pub Date: March 18, 2002
ISBN: 0-201-74391-4
Pages: 384

Information systems often fail because their requirements are poorly defined. This book shows IT
professionals how to specify more precisely and more effectively what their systems need to do.
The key lies in the discovery and application of what are called business rules. A business rule is
a compact and simple statement that represents some important aspect of a business. By
capturing the rules for your business--the logic that governs its operation--you will gain the ability
to create systems fully aligned with your business needs.
In this book, Tony Morgan provides a thorough introduction to business rules, as well as a
practical framework for integrating them into information systems. He shows you how to identify
and express business rules, offers practical strategies for their use, and explains the key
elements of logic that underpin their application.
Topics covered include:
Understanding the role of business rules and models in information systems development
Using models to structure and manage business activities, including e-commerce
Defining and discovering business rules
Controlling business rule quality
Fitting business rules into varied technical architectures
Implementing business rules using available technology
Whether you are an analyst, designer, developer, or technical manager, the in-depth information
and practical perspective in this valuable resource will guide you in your efforts to build rule-
centered information systems that fully support the goals of your organization.
Business Rules and Information Systems: Aligning IT with Business Goals
By Tony Morgan

Publisher: Addison Wesley
Pub Date: March 18, 2002
ISBN: 0-201-74391-4
Table of Pages: 384
•
Contents

Copyright
List of Figures
Preface
Why this book
The goals of this book
Who should read this book
How to use this book

Acknowledgments
Part I. A New Approach to Information Systems
Chapter 1. The Problem
Section 1.1. What this book is about
Section 1.2. The way we build software
Section 1.3. The vision
Section 1.4. Is this really practical?
Section 1.5. Moving forward
Section 1.6. Where we stand

Chapter 2. Frameworks, Architectures, and Models
Section 2.1. Needful abstractions
Section 2.2. Case study: a sample business architecture
Section 2.3. What does a complete model look like?
Section 2.4. Modeling summary

Part II. Capturing Business Rules
Chapter 3. Defining Business Rules
Section 3.1. Rule statements
Section 3.2. Forming rule statements
Section 3.3. References to facts
Section 3.4. Business parameters
Section 3.5. Tips on rule construction
Section 3.6. Case Study: Microsoft Outlook
Section 3.7. Rule description summary

Chapter 4. Discovering Business Rules
Section 4.1. That which we call a rule
Section 4.2. Where rules come from
Section 4.3. Finding rules
Section 4.4. Case study: loan approval
Section 4.5. Rule-discovery summary

Chapter 5. Controlling Rule Quality
Section 5.1. Developing quality rules
Section 5.2. Reviewing rules
Section 5.3. Walkthroughs
Section 5.4. Inspections
Section 5.5. Testing
Section 5.6. Case study: testing the VBB loan-application rules
Section 5.7. Metrics
Section 5.8. Quality summary

Part III. Implementing Business Rules
Chapter 6. The Technology Environment
Section 6.1. More about architecture
Section 6.2. A typical reference architecture
Section 6.3. Component architecture
Section 6.4. Transactions
Section 6.5. Server pages and scripting
Section 6.6. State management
Section 6.7. Implications for business rules
Section 6.8. Where rules live
Section 6.9. Summarizing the technology environment

Chapter 7. Realizing Business Rules
Section 7.1. Taking stock
Section 7.2. Distributing rules
Section 7.3. Realizing rules
Section 7.4. System rules
Section 7.5. Implementation summary

Chapter 8. Managing Business Rules and Models
Section 8.1. Life-cycle costs
Section 8.2. Managing evolution
Section 8.3. Deploying rules
Section 8.4. Tools to support rule management
Section 8.5. Rule repository
Section 8.6. Rule management summary

Part IV. The Role of Business Rules
Chapter 9. A Wider View
Section 9.1. Marshaling intellectual resources
Section 9.2. Capturing knowledge
Section 9.3. Knowledge summary

Chapter 10. Summing Up
Section 10.1. The purpose of this book
Section 10.2. Models
Section 10.3. Trends
Section 10.4. Business rule characteristics
Section 10.5. Rule populations
Section 10.6. Other properties
Section 10.7. Rule programming
Section 10.8. Advantages of business rules

Appendix A. Little Bit of Logic
Section A.1. Business Logic
Section A.2. Propositions
Section A.3. Logical operations
Section A.4. Handling logical values
Section A.5. Final words

Selected Bibliography
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Business Rules and Information Systems: Aligning IT with Business Goals
By Tony Morgan
Table of Contents
Copyright
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book,
and Addison-Wesley, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have
been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals.
The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or
omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in
connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained
herein.
The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for special sales.
For more information, please contact:
Pearson Education Corporate Sales Division
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Visit AW on the Web: www.aw.com/cseng/
Library of Congress Control Number: 2002101260
Copyright © 2002 by Unisys Corporation. Published by Addison-Wesley.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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Business Rules and Information Systems: Aligning IT with Business Goals
By Tony Morgan
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Figure 1-1 The current development process
Figure 1-2 The way it could be
Figure 1-3 A practical way forward
Figure 2-1 Scope limits for business model
Figure 2-2 Example business architecture
Figure 2-3 Class diagram with specializations
Figure 2-4 Multiplicity labeling
Figure 2-5 Simple loan model
Figure 2-6 More complex loan model
Figure 2-7 Bank account states
Figure 2-8 Multiple state variables for a single Member object
Figure 2-9 Process hierarchy diagram
Figure 2-10 Process flow diagram
Figure 2-11 Use case diagram
Figure 2-12 Two kinds of actor hierarchy
Figure 2-13 Goals, risks, and enablers
Figure 2-14 Intention hierarchy as UML classes
Figure 2-15 Size range for business model elements
Figure 3-1 Low-technology rule definition
Figure 3-2 Controlled rule definition
Figure 3-3 Rule definition: long-term objective
Figure 3-4 Rule statements and their relationships
Figure 3-5 Relationship with weak constraint
Figure 3-6 Relationship constrained by cardinality on class model
Figure 3-7 Customers, cards, and transactions
Figure 3-8 Using role names to improve readability
Figure 3-9 Defining an enumeration as a class
Figure 3-10 Model fragment
Figure 3-11 Outlook rule with placeholder
Figure 3-12 Placeholder replaced by value
Figure 4-1 Association between Order and Packer
Figure 4-2 Fragment of "packaging" workflow
Figure 4-3 Documentation sources
Figure 4-4 Typical workshop activity cycle
Figure 4-5 Fishbone diagram: concept
Figure 4-6 Fishbone workshop: intermediate position
Figure 5-1 Typical assessment activity pattern
Figure 5-2 General structure of a review
Figure 5-3 Typical review record
Figure 5-4 Overview of testing environment
Figure 5-5 Spreadsheet layout for rule testing
Figure 5-6 Dependency relationships
Figure 5-7 Two viewpoints: black box versus gray box
Figure 5-8 Rule set for VBB loan
Figure 5-9 Errors in VBB rules
Figure 5-10 Modifications required to dependency diagram
Figure 5-11 Unexpected results from the VBB rules
Figure 5-12 Cumulative effect of quality
Figure 6-1 Microsoft DNA
Figure 6-2 Variations in the channel tier
Figure 6-3 Stovepipe systems
Figure 6-4 Fully connectable systems
Figure 6-5 Middle tier as a multiplexer
Figure 6-6 Software components
Figure 6-7 Stubs and proxies
Figure 6-8 Isolation of functionality in separately managed script
Figure 6-9 Multiple realizations of the same rule
Figure 6-10 Structural similarities can be misleading
Figure 7-1 Rule component
Figure 7-2 Main elements of a typical Rules Engine
Figure 7-3 Packer and shipment tables
Figure 7-4 Simple workflow process
Figure 8-1 Versions and variants
Figure 8-2 Synchronizing analysis and design models
Figure 8-3 Automating repository updates
Figure 8-4 Schematic time scales for changing an application
Figure 8-5 Links between rule definitions and realizations
Figure 8-6 Another view of multiple realizations
Figure 8-7 Intrinsic rule properties
Figure 8-8 Rule cross-references
Figure 8-9 Rule model and realization locations
Figure 9-1 Breadth and depth of knowledge
Figure 9-2 Example semantic network
Figure 9-3 A semantic network as a UML class diagram
Figure 9-4 Simplified production system
Figure 9-5 Widget hierarchy
Figure 9-6 Simplified blackboard system
Figure 9-7 Simple RDF example
Figure A-1 Propositional logic
Figure A-2 Venn diagram with one class
Figure A-3 Venn diagram with two classes