1 - What are Business Rules and Business Rules Engines?

Abstract

The chapter presents something of the diversity that lies behind the term business rule and the different understandings that arise from this diversity. The definitions of business rules and business rules engines have been narrowed to the area of data driven approaches. Building a business rules engine can be a complex task, but a rules engine that fits into a larger picture must be understood. There are many activities related to business rules that happen only at a general analytical level. For instance, some organizations try to enforce “global” rules that require special, unique interpretations in some units of the organization. This larger picture includes the processes by which business rules are discovered and defined. Although often beyond the control of anyone building a rules engine, these processes can ultimately determine the success of the rules engine.