By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Flexible yet permanent – the power of business rules
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Business Intelligence > Flexible yet permanent – the power of business rules
Business Intelligence

Flexible yet permanent – the power of business rules

JamesTaylor
Last updated: 2010/05/18 at 5:41 PM
JamesTaylor
5 Min Read
SHARE

Sapphire, SAP’s big show, is on this week and I have been following the twitter stream (I was invited but couldn’t make it). Merv Adrian (@merv) had a sequence of posts about some SAP customers (Shell and Unilever) that really struck me:

  • Shell … “Once you pour electronic concrete, it’s hard to get out.”
  • Unilever: “There is no such thing as a temporary solution. Don’t put in things you don’t want to keep.”
  • Shell – you MUST combine IT and functional people across different systems

To me these are a clarion call for the use of business rules and decision management. Let’s think about these comments.

Big systems implementations tend to be “electronic concrete”. In particular you can’t easily change the logic in those systems. You can add process management across and within them, but many business processes are actually pretty stable – it is the decisions within them that are constantly changing. For instance, your order to cash process does not change but your pricing decision does. Identifying the decisions in your applications and processes explicitly and then automating them using business rules …

More Read

data analytics in employee gift giving

Using Data Analytics to Create a Great Employee Gifting Strategy

How Artificial Intelligence For Contract Negotiations Impacts Companies
More Than Pretty Pictures: Visualizing Insight
Business Analytics – Opposition or Proposition?
Decision Management versus Business Rules

Copyright © 2010 http://jtonedm.com James Taylor

Syndicated from ebizQ

Sapphire, SAP’s big show, is on this week and I have been following the twitter stream (I was invited but couldn’t make it). Merv Adrian (@merv) had a sequence of posts about some SAP customers (Shell and Unilever) that really struck me:

  • Shell … “Once you pour electronic concrete, it’s hard to get out.”
  • Unilever: “There is no such thing as a temporary solution. Don’t put in things you don’t want to keep.”
  • Shell – you MUST combine IT and functional people across different systems

To me these are a clarion call for the use of business rules and decision management. Let’s think about these comments.

Big systems implementations tend to be “electronic concrete”. In particular you can’t easily change the logic in those systems. You can add process management across and within them, but many business processes are actually pretty stable – it is the decisions within them that are constantly changing. For instance, your order to cash process does not change but your pricing decision does. Identifying the decisions in your applications and processes explicitly and then automating them using business rules allows you to develop a system that is both robust and flexible.

IT systems are notorious for lasting longer than expected. They rapidly evolve from “temporary solutions” to permanent ones. Those who think business rules are overkill (see this whole thread, for instance) often tell me that “this code isn’t going to change” and “it will always be easy for someone to change this code” despite decades of evidence that this is not the case. Instead of assuming it won’t change or that making changes will be easy, companies would do better assuming that they will need to change the logic in their systems more often than they think and that the people making the changes won’t be those who wrote it originally. The ease with which business rules can be changed and re-deployed and the greater clarity of business rules syntax make this work. Assuming that your systems will be permanent, and making sure that critical flex points in the system are easy to change (because they are externalized as rules-based decision services) will ensure that your have permanence with flexibility.

Finally, the use of business rules in this way helps improve business and IT collaboration. Because both technical and business people can read and understand the business rules, there is less confusion and more collaboration. It does not matter if IT still own the rules, if the business people edit the rules themselves or if business analysts take point – rules-based decisions deliver effective IT/business collaboration.

Externalizing your decisions and using business rules to manage them gives you systems that are flexible yet permanent. I wrote a white paper on this topic for SAP recently, Business Rules and Decisioning for Process Experts. Use business rules, focus on decisions and get concrete you can change!

Link to original post

TAGGED: business rules, decision management
JamesTaylor May 18, 2010
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

data analytics in employee gift giving
Analytics

Using Data Analytics to Create a Great Employee Gifting Strategy

9 Min Read
AI in contract negotiations
Artificial IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence

How Artificial Intelligence For Contract Negotiations Impacts Companies

8 Min Read

More Than Pretty Pictures: Visualizing Insight

4 Min Read

Business Analytics – Opposition or Proposition?

4 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?