Author: Ronald G. Ross
Publisher: Business Rule Solutions, LLC, Second Edition 2005
ISBN 094104906X
A relatively short, but content-packed book for both business and IT professionals. Business Rule Concepts is an excellent resource written in easy-to-read style. It is very suitable for both the
business professional who is interested in creating agility in business, and for the IT professional who is interested in building systems which support agility.
Ross has successfully delivered in concise form the basic knowledge a business professional needs to use the Business Rules Approach as a primary method in business and software design. This
pragmatic handbook is neatly divided into two sections.
- The first section, chapters one through three, is written for the general reader and has its focus on key concepts of the Business Rules Approach.
- The second section, chapters four through six, is devoted solely to the practitioner.
For those that believe agility is a primary ingredient of successful business, Ross has cooked up a winning recipe. The subtitle of the book, Getting to the Point of Knowledge, can also serve as
the premise. The conclusion being that without rule independence, true business agility cannot be achieved. Ross offers concrete and practical methods to increase business agility at all levels of
business.
Pundits may argue that the approach is too disciplined; however, documenting the business terms and facts forms a solid foundation for sharing and retaining business knowledge, a key factor in an
agile business. Disciplined organizations will get the message and run with the ball. Ross has provided an improved description and a more complete reference on how Fact Models should be built,
information lacking in the first edition.
A complete categorization of business rules is provided in chapter five. This categorization of rules, a vocabulary and set of rules about rules, will help the serious practitioner analyze and
manage core business logic. The conclusion is that each rule costs something and you can’t control what you can’t manage. A down side is that no reference is given for tools that
support the maintenance of terms, facts, and rules.
Throughout the book insight is provided on how rules and definitions should complement each other. In chapter six Ross makes an attempt to introduce a new term “time shock”. From this
reader’s perspective Ross seems to violate the rules against creating new terms as outlined in the opening pages of the book. Ross makes his point, but more time could have been spent on
defining the term ‘name’ – how to name things well – a crucial skill in the Business Rules Approach.
The final chapter of the book concludes with insights into the relationship between rules and processes. The idea of externalizing business rules from process and creating “thin
process” by using what Ross calls scripts may prove to be as powerful a pattern as the Model View Control (MVC) pattern is to GUI development.
Despite a few glitches, I believe Business Rule Concepts is a ‘must read’ (one or both parts) for just about everyone on both the business and IT sides concerned about how their company
can achieve business and system agility. I gained valuable insights at just about every turn – well worth my time.
