What is a Business Rule

On a rules project a few design decisions I see teams struggle are the following:

1. Is this rule a valid candidate to write in the Rule Engine?
2. The rule is never going to change , what is the point of writing this in the rule engine
3. Is every "if then else" in the system a business rules. Are things like page navigation rules , workflow rule candidates?

You have probabaly heard a theoretical definition of what is a business rule. While these definitions serve well for a new comer to this space who is trying to understand the concept , it does not necessary address the questions I have highligthed above. In the context of building a system a lot of other things also need to be considered.

I have tried to articulate my definition around this subject below.

The basic guideline I have been using to decide if the rule is a candidate for the BRMS tool are as follows:

1. Is this rule something that is core to the way the Enterprise operations works ? What this means is : Is the business interested in
• being aware of this rule
• viewing it and maintaining it
• Possibly enhancing this in the future


2. Identify if the rule is a candidate for the Rule Engine or is this rule better addressed as part of a product already in the solution (example : Struts Framework for GUI Navigation rules OR Filenet addressing BPM)

You also need to answer the question of how is the team viewing the BRMS tool. Is the BRMS tool a part of the solution or is it the solution itself ? This is an important question to ask as the answer will decide the granuality at which you want to use the rules engine in your solution.