When we consider the role of Business Rules in Enterprise Architecture, we soon discover that – contrary to many popular schema – Business Rules are neither components of the process model of the enterprise, not are they simply constraints that exist at the lower layers of the architecture. Using The Zachman Framework and KPI's RMM™ (Rule Maturity Model) we are able to properly construct the role of Business Rules within the Enterprise Architecture that fully supports both MDA (Model Driven Architecture) and a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). This construct also allows us to build a matrix of requirements for the rules management software to support the enterprise at the level of maturity targeted by the enterprise for its Business Rules approach.
People, processes and systems are the fundamental components of which any company is composed. However, many organizations find that coordinating and managing these elements to achieve business objectives is an enormous challenge. This challenge has intensified in recent years, as information systems have grown exponentially more complex and the business climate has mandated that, to remain competitive, companies must act with greater responsiveness and agility than ever before.
WE STAND AT A CRITICAL CROSS ROAD. There is no doubt that BPM technology and BRE technology are delivering on the promises of organizational agility. Some organizations start by understanding their business processes first, adopt a BPM product, and then explore the business rules beneath the processes and the BPM product. Other organizations start by understanding critical business rules first, adopt a BRE product, and then explore the guiding business processes around the rules and the BRE. Still other organizations investigate both BP and BR at the same time, seeking both technologies and their harmonious union. THE CRITICAL CROSS ROAD TODAY IS STARING US IN THE FACE. Should BPM and BRE technology exist in one execution environment or should they deliberately exist as separate pieces of software. Only these panel members know for sure…
Aligning BPM to effectively deliver business results is a collaborative journey. Your BPM team Team, your IT Team and – most importantly – your Business Stakeholders need a practical roadmap for achieving tangible success. Topic dimensions will include:
Executive priorities & the BPM business case
BPM Center of Excellence shared resource / governance model
Positioning BP improvement deliverables for BPM success
Advocacy for BPM impact measures
The efforts of a large healthcare company to establish an enterprise-level business rules governance function and a BR Center of Excellence will be explained. The energy to address these ideas came from an IT-inspired BR Guidance Committee made up of business unit managers who really "got it" about rules. Members understood the potential business benefits of BRE technology but also that the potential could only be fully realized if the business (including themselves) stepped up to the challenge.
Business process management tools offer organizations the ability to significantly improve business processes, reaping improved productivity and customer service in the process. However, in many cases, the same technology that supports BPM can also be used to develop composite applications and support a service-oriented architecture. This session will explore how these technologies relate to one another, discuss developing trends and look at case studies of organizations that have implemented these advanced features.
By: Dr. Setrag Khoshafian, VP of BPM Technology, Pegasystems
It is always exciting to see successful BPM deployments. Recently, I heard of a substantive BPM project that went live within five weeks, with tangible ROIs! That is unheard of when compared to traditional "Java" or ".NET" based development approaches. One of the main reasons BPM is fast becoming mainstream is precisely because of the tangible ROI one can achieve through a well designed and thought through BPM solution. BPM is known to yield considerable ROI in the majority of projects. Where do the benefits and the returns on investment stem from?
Contributed by:James Taylor, Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and CEO and Principal Consultant,
Decision Management Solutions
By James Taylor, Vice President, Enterprise Decision Management Technologies, Fair Isaac
One of the key uses of business rule management systems (BRMS) and business process management systems (BPMS), is to help with issues of compliance. The growth of regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, as well as long standing regulation in areas such as Insurance and banking means that more companies have to deal with compliance than ever before. Many companies are turning to technology to address the issues this growth of regulation brings.
There are many challenges that come with compliance, but three are particularly relevant when considering how technology might help.
Contributed by:Barbara von Halle, Managing Partner & Founder,
Knowledge Partners International LLP
By: Barbara von Halle, Founder, Knowledge Partners Inc
Barbara von Halle is the founder of Knowledge Partners, a company leading clients through successful business rules projects through the licensing of KPI STEP, a Business Rule Management Took Kit. Von Halle is a pioneer in Business Rules and received the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from the International Data Management Association. As a journalist, she wrote for Database Programming and Design Magazine and co-authored several books.
Contributed by:Tom DeBevoise, Co-Author of The Microguide to Process Modeling in BPMN 2.0,
www.tomdebevoise.com
By: Tom Debevoise, author of "Business Process Management With a Business Rules Approach: Implementing the Service Oriented Architecture"
Many BRMS vendors, especially the leaders Fair Isaac and ILOG, consider their implementation of the RETE algorithm a critical part of their product offering. Yet you might not understand what RETE is and why it can be either useful or unnecessary, depending on the rules problem domain. So what is RETE?
The RETE algorithm was developed to improve evaluation performance with large knowledge or fact sets. For example, a diagnostic expert system might describe many signs and symptoms for the diagnosis of a condition. Because of the diagnosis, an action may be taken.