Business Rule Motivation Model

1
Business Rule Motivation Model

• Work in Progress Report, OMG BEIDTF
• Montreal, 23 August 2004
• John Hall, Business Rules Group

2
Background

• Business Rules Group (BRG) published its Business
  Rules Motivation Model (BRMM) in November 2000
• BRMM used in practice since publication
• Business Rules and Business Re-engineering
  projects in USA, UK and Switzerland
• Tool support mainly home-grown (Access, Excel,
  Visio, etc)
• Partial support (Business Policy Charter) by
  PTech
• KnowGravity (Zurich) developing implementations
  based on Artisan Real-Time Studio and Cassandra
• March 2004, BRG invited by OMG BEIDTF to submit
  BRMM for RFC

3
Who is proposing this?

• Business Rules Group
• Independent standards group, working on business
  rules since 1993
• Published Business Rules Motivation Model in 2000
• Working on vocabulary semantics since 2000
• Business Rules Team
• Consortium formed in 2003 to respond to OMG RFP
  for Business Semantics of Business Rules
• BRG is a member, represented on project board
• BRG owns BRMM and will submit it to OMG
• With support of BRT
• With BRT co-operation for first demonstration of
  integration by adoption

4
Purpose of this presentation

• Position BRMM relative to other BEIDTF
  developments
• Organization Structure Metamodel (OSM)
• Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM)
• Business Semantics of Business Rules (BSBR)
• Production Rule Representation (PRR)
• Update BEIDTF on progress towards RFC submission
• Suggest integration by adoption to BEIDTF as an
  approach for maintaining consistency

5
BRMM as published
defined by
defines
Means
Mission
makes operative
establishes
composed of
Organization Component
planned by means of
established by
part of
Course of Action
component of plan for
makes
recognizes
Strategy
enabled by
drives toward
enables
implemented by
implements
Tactic
formulated based on
formulated to achieve
guided by
guides
impacted by influences expressed in
has achievement supported by
Element of Guidance
related to
the source of
supports achievement of
Business Rule
relates to
subject to
Enforcement Level
impacted by influences expressed in
applies to
derived from
basis for
Business Policy
motivated by
part of
composed of
recognized by
acts as
expresses impact of influence on
expresses impact of influence on
provides impetus for
Influence
a role played by
Assessment
made by
External Influence
Environment
Technology
Regulation
Strength
Weakness
judged in
Supplier
Customer
Competitor
Partner
Opportunity
Threat
a judgment about
evaluated in terms of
Internal Influence
Infrastructure
Issue
Assumption
a characteristic of
Corporate Value
Habit
Resource Quality
Impact Value
Stated
Unstated
Risk
Potential Reward
Management Prerogative
6
Business Rules Motivation Model

• Published as
• Also see

Organizing Business Plans The Standard Model
for Business Rule Motivation November
2000 Available from www.businessrulesgroup.org
Business Rules Motivation Model PowerPoint
presentation to BEIDTF at OMG St Louis, April
2004 Available from www.omg.org
7
Audiences

• Developers of business plans.
• The BRMM is a conceptual tool for engineering the
  business itself.
• Analysts supporting the developers of business
  plans.
• The BRMM is a tool for organizing and clarifying
  business plans.
• The BRMM is a tool for understanding all the
  forces that influence business planning and their
  impact.
• Implementers and users of software tools and
  repositories.
• The BRMM is a model for structuring information
  about such business plans

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BRMM Content

• Distinction between being and doing (Ends and
  Means)
• Distinction between
• Influences and Assessment of their impact
• Assessments and reactions (Business Policies and
  specification of Ends)
• Distinction between Courses of Action and
  Guidance
• Decomposition Ends, Means, Guidance
• Associations between the elements

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BRMM - major areas
Means
End
What you want your business to be
Courses of Action
What you decide your business needs to do
Arrows indicate direction of major drives
Elements of Guidance
Influence
Assessment
of influences
What may affect your business
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BRMM and other OMG standards

• Organization Structure Metamodel (OSM)
• Integration by adoption
• Business Semantics of Business Rules (BSBR)
• Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM)
• Production Rule Representation (PRR)

11
Organization Structure Metamodel (OSM)
defines
End
Means
Organization Component
establishes
Strategy
determines
Assessment
makes
recognizes
Influence
Organization Component is a placeholder in BRMM -
not defined in any detail We expect a good
specification to be developed in OSM and would
like to use it as the authoritative version. This
is an example of Integration by Adoption.
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Integration by Adoption

• Some concepts, including Business Policy,
  Business Process, Business Rule and Organization
  Component
• are common to several BEIDTF developments
• should have the same definitions across all of
  them
• We suggest that they each be defined once in an
  owner standard, and adopted by other standards
  as users
• The benefits would be consistency across
  standards and reduction of replication
• The implication would be that when an owner
  standard is revised, all the users have to be
  considered - this would be a good thing!
• Concepts can also be adopted from outside the
  OMG, e.g. BSBR adopts from ISO, standard
  dictionaries, etc.

13
BRMM and BSBR
Means
Course of Action
formulated based on
guided by
guides
Element of Guidance
related to
We wish to adopt from BSBR
Business Rule
relates to
derived from
the source of
basis for
BRT has agreed to adopt - we will suggest to
other BSBR submitters that they consider it
Business Policy
part of
composed of
Example of bi-directional adoption
(cross-adoption)
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Business Process

• BRMM supports two areas of decision-making that
  are important to Business Process Definition
• Ends (Vision, Goals, Objectives) - where you want
  your business processes to take your business
• Business Policies - the boundaries you set on the
  kinds of activity your business processes will
  and can do
• They are determined by decision makers in the
  business, based on Assessments of Influences on
  the business.
• When Business Processes are defined
• They validate and prove Business Policies
• They realize the Courses of Action (Strategies
  and Tactics) - i.e they put the courses of action
  into practice
• They provide the processing context for
  application of Business Rules - or (from the BPDM
  perspective) Business Rules provide detail to
  support Business Processes

15
BRMM and BPDM
Means
Course of Action
delivered by
formulated based on
guided by
guides
Element of Guidance
realizes
the source of
Business Process
Business Rule
supports
supports
derived from
shaped by
basis for
Business Policy
drives
We wish to adopt from BPDM
We will suggest to BPDM submitters that they
could adopt from BRMM
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Proposed Changes to BRMM for OMG

• Element of Guidance (part of Means)
• Replace BRMM Business Rule with adoption of
  Business Rule from BSBR
• Organization Component (currently a placeholder)
• Adopt Organization Component (or nearest
  equivalent) from Organization Structure Metamodel
  (OSM)
• Add new association Strategy determines
  Organization Component
• Business Process (new)
• Adopt Business Process from Business Process
  Definition Metamodel (BPDM)
• Add new associations between Business Process and
  Element of Guidance, Course of Action, and
  Organization Component
• Under consideration
• Element of Guidance rename as Element of
  Governance
• Assessment higher profile for Risk and risk
  management

17
Proposed Changes to BRMM
defined by
defines
to be adopted from OSM
Means
End
made operative by
Mission
Vision
makes operative
composed of
Organization Component
establishes
responsible for
part of
composed of
planned by means of
amplified by
established by
part of
Course of Action
Desired Result
amplifies
component of plan for
to be adopted from BPDM
recognizes
defined by
Strategy
Goal
determines
enabled by
Business Process
enables
realizes
implemented by
quantified by
implements
quantifies
formulated to achieve
Tactic
Objective
formulated based on
makes
achieved by
supports
shaped by
guided by
guides
source of
impacted by influences expressed in
has achievement supported by
Element of Guidance
related to
supports achievement of
Business Rule
relates to
to be adopted from BSBR
impacted by influences expressed in
supports
Enforcement Level
derived from
basis for
applies to
Business Policy
proposed for adoption into BSBR and BPDM
motivated by
expresses impact of influence on
expresses impact of influence on
part of
provides impetus for
drives
composed of
Assessment
acts as
recognized by
Strength
Weakness
made by
Opportunity
Threat
judged in
Influence
a role played by
a judgment about
External Influence
evaluated in terms of
Regulation
Others as in published version
a characteristic of
under discussion
Impact Value
Risk
Potential Reward
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Consequent changes - suggested

• BSBR (to be agreed with submitters)
• Adopt Business Policy from BRMM (recommended)
• Adopt Business Process from BPDM (to be
  discussed)
• BPDM (to be proposed to submitters)
• Adopt Business Policy from BRMM
• Adopt Business Rule from BSBR
• note there is already a hook in the draft
  submission
• OSM (to be proposed to submitters, if relevant)
• Adopt Business Policy from BRMM
• Adopt Business Process from BPDM
• PRR not known - initial submissions not yet made

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Business Policy - what would be adopted?

• Business Policy - explicit guidance that
• Directs or constrains the Business Processes,
  Strategies and Tactics of an enterprise
• Provides the basis for Business Rules
• Is not directly actionable (see notes)
• Examples (EU-Rent)
• Rental contracts are made under the law of the
  country in which the pick-up branch is located
• Rentals must comply with relevant laws and
  regulations of all countries to be visited
• Depreciation of rental cars must be minimized
• Notes
• Compared to a Business Rule, a Business Policy
  tends to be less structured, less discrete, and
  usually not atomic that is, not focused on a
  single aspect of guidance. Its articulation may
  be less formal than that for a Business Rule.
• Business Policies provide broader guidance that
  is not directly actionable. Business Rules
  provide specific, actionable guidance to
  implement Business Policies.
• Actionable means that a person who understands
  a Business Rule could observe a relevant
  situation (including his or her own behavior) and
  decide directly whether or not the business was
  complying with the rule.
• Some Business Rules could be automated in
  software some are actionable only by people.
  Business Policies are not directly automatable.

20
EU-Rent - a business policy

• Premium car rental companies such as Hertz and
  Avis have a high quality, value for money
  image. Customers generally accept that their
  rates will be higher than the cheap and
  cheerful competition (an Influence)
• Customers tend to see on-airport companies as
  premium and off-airport as cheap and cheerful
  (an Assessment)
• EU-Rent thinks that there is room for competition
  in the premium market (an Assessment)
• EU-Rent wants to be a premium car rental company
  (a Goal)
• To achieve this, EU-Rent decides to be
  nation-wide in each of its countries of
  operation, focusing on major airports (a
  Strategy) and to compete head-to-head,
  on-airport, with other premium car rental
  companies (a Strategy)
• A problem for on-airport car rental companies is
  that all the competitors offer similar types of
  car, and are physically lined up in a row (an
  Influence). There is almost no room for manoeuvre
  on product, service or price (an Assessment)
• A critical factor in financial success is the
  depreciation on cars their purchase, new, and
  their sale at the end of their rental life (an
  Assessment). In response to this, EU-Rent decides
  that depreciation of cars must be minimised (a
  Business Policy). It will go on to develop some
  courses of action and business rules to support
  this policy (see next slide)
• Note the above could mean that (in terms of
  financial performance), the premium car rental
  companies are really in the used-car business,
  and that car rental is just the front-end feed -
  but we wont go there today

21
Business Policy Examples - EU-Rent
Business Policy (broad guidance)
Business Rule (specific guidance)
Course of Action (what has to be done)
Equalize use of cars across rentals
Depreciation of cars must be minimized
The Car assigned to a Rental must be the one with
the lowest mileage of the available Cars in the
requested Car Group at the time of assignment
Comply with manufacturers maintenance schedule
Depreciation of cars must be minimized
A Rental cannot be extended by phone if the Cars
odometer reading is within 500 miles of its next
service mileage (the Customer must bring it in
for a change of car)
Accept payment only by major credit card
Rental payments must be guaranteed in advance
A provisional charge for the estimated cost of
the Rental must be made against a valid credit
card held by the Renter before the Car is handed
over
Return cars dropped off out of country to their
country of registration, although not necessarily
the branch of origin in that country
Rental cars must not be exported
An out of country car can be rented only on a
one-way rental with drop-off at branch in in its
country of registration
22
How OMG standards might be linked
Organization Structure Metamodel (OSM)
adoption
adoption
Business Rules Motivation Model (BRMM)
Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM)
adoption
Organization Component
Business Rule
Business Policy
Business Process
Organization Component
Business Rule
adoption
adoption
adoption
adoption
adoption
transformation
Business Semantics of Business Rules (BSBR)
Production Rules Representation (maybe some
adoption - dont know enough yet)
Business Policy
Business Process
transformation
23
BRMM - towards RFC submission

• Proposed changes as described so far
• Cross-adoption of shared concepts with OSM, BSBR,
  BPDM
• Revised edition of paper to be published on BRG
  web site
• UML model
• Structure created in Artisan Visual Studio
• Full detail (as in BRG paper) currently being
  built up
• MOF/XMI
• Currently in trials with Artisan/Cassandra for
  transfer to Adaptive
• Since BRMM is a Vocabulary Rules, we intend
  also to generate using the BSBR technology, as an
  additional BSBR demonstration
• Supporting Tools
• Proof of concept tool being developed by
  KnowGravity (Zurich)
• Aiming for submission in Nov 2004

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BRMM - UML Model
Note does not yet show proposed changes
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Summary

• High-level metamodel, providing context for more
  detailed models
• Small set of essential concepts
• It took the BRG several years to distil this set
  from industry practice
• The model is relatively simple compared with,
  say, BSBR and BPDM (so might be easier to
  accept?)
• An important role is providing standard
  vocabulary (even if some businesses choose,
  internally, to use different terms for some
  concepts)
• Content is well-established - most of the work
  needed is to meet OMG requirements for submission
• Some updates needed - mainly to ensure
  consistency with other OMG MDA standards for
  business-level modeling
• Integration by adoption would provide a useful
  way to integrate with related OMG standards - but
  is not vital for acceptance of BRMM