Renée Taylor Consulting, Inc.
Effective Business Rules Documentation during Analysis
How can you best document business rules for effective systems analysis and design? Following is an example of our recommendations for recording business rules during systems analysis, in this case, event-driven business rules.
Modeling Event-Driven Business Rules in Oracle Designer
Event-driven business rules are distinguished by their relative stability and straightforward actions including common sense rules and other business-specific rules that are unlikely to change. They can be modeled in a Business Rule Hierarchy as though they were Business Functions or Processes. By modeling these rules in the Oracle Designer Function Hierarchy Diagrammer, many of the tool’s features can be put to good use.
For example,
- Rules can be sensibly grouped by business subject area to ease completeness checking.
- The entity(s) and attributes affected by the rule can be indicated with an ‘Other’ data usage.
- Functions triggered by the rule can be indicated.
- Functions triggering the rule can be indicated, creating the associated end-function Rule Events.
Rule Documentation Conventions
The following documentation of business rules using this method is recommended:
- Use a prefix to provide a means of sorting and filtering in the Repository, and a sequence number to provide a unique identifier. Note also in the name the particular rule type.
- Document the rule in simple business terms using a concise verb-object statement of the rule’s action. If more information must be recorded, use the Description field in the Repository.
- Describe the rule test, which is one or more concise statements that define a positive condition to be satisfied if the constraint rule is passed.
- Document the events that trigger the rule function using the Repository Object Navigator (RON). Events can be associated with the Rule functions documented in the Business Rule Hierarchy by creating a ‘Triggering Function’ association. End-Function events can also be created through the Edit Function dialog box using the Triggers tab and assigning the ‘Triggered By’ function. More detail can be added through the RON.
For information on other types of business rule documentation and analysis, or to learn how we can assist you with this task, please contact us.
Renée Taylor Consulting
Tel. 1 (530) 692 2000
Based in Sacramento
Serving California State government clients, other public sector and corporate clients internationally
expert@rt-consulting.com
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