It is critical, to the success of a project, to fully understand, explore and confirm the intent of the stakeholders.
If possible, a business case document should be prepared with a cost benefit study, to guide the development.
Typically rules engines have the following benefits:
a) faster implementation than code
b) process visible to users
c) sometimes users can maintain the rules
d) centralized, consistent, and justified application of the rules
By far, the most valuable benefit is a) – faster implementation. Using a properly configured rules engine, the business can implement new or revised activities an order of magnitude faster than with code based solutions.
[Developers often notice the paradox that the rules are coded in a language like, or the same as, the one used for development (example: DROOLS and java). “I can do that in code!” a developer says in a scrum. While true, the developer has missed the point: code is tied to the slower sprint cycle(s) time-frames, whereas, with a (correctly configured) rules engine, rules can be modified, tested and implemented within hours.]
The architecture chosen for the implementation of the BRMS must reflect the business requirements. As a minimum, the BRMS should be, itself, the subject of use-case and user stories: considering how rules are created, updated, reviewed, tested, and archived.
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