A business rules management system (BRMS) enables an organization to develop, manage, and implement scalable business rules.
With business rules management, organizations can achieve targets at scale without having to constantly liaise with their relevant authorities. By automating policy execution, business rules management makes it easier to apply policies when needed. According to a study, the Business Rules Management System market is supposed to grow at a CAGR of 11.8% from 2022 to 2025.
This article explores what business rules management and a BRMS (business rules management system) are, how they can help you get better results faster, and how they help you sync with your processes even further.
The business rules of an organization define and/or constrain its actions. An organization’s business rules specify its objectives and provide guidelines for how processes are to be carried out. Business rules are often undocumented and informal in many organizations. Employees in these organizations understand their job functions and do it according to their ingrained understanding.
Consider the case of a customer who wants to return a product. Here are some examples of business rules that determine how returns will be processed:
The first scenario is as follows:
The second scenario is as follows:
Inefficiencies and inconsistencies are created by undocumented business rules. An organization’s business processes are formally defined through business rules management. Business rules management ensures that all members of an organization are aware of business objectives and processes. In this way, organizations can scale their operations while providing employees with a high level of autonomy.
BRMSs are software solutions that define, deploy, execute, monitor, and manage business rules and decision logic. An organization’s business processes are automated with a BRMS. Business rules can be linked with technological solutions that perform the required functions through a BRMS, which can distinguish between relationships between business rules.
There are three main components of a BRMS:
Business rules must be expressed in a conditional programming language to be readable by automated applications. Logic qualifiers used in coding projects include “IF-THEN”, “IF-ELSE”, “ONLY IF”, “WHEN”, etc.
Business rules can be written in a conditional language using a BRMS’s low-code or no-code development environment. Consider again the customer refund request outlined above. Here is an example of how that rule might be expressed conditionally:
If the customer ordered a product less than 30 days ago, the product should be refunded. Alternatively, you can offer store credit.
Decision tables can also be used to express business rules in which more than one condition influences the appropriate action. Business users might prepare a decision table like this if item pricing also affects the return procedure:
Item Price | Purchased <=30 Days Ago | Purchased >30 Days Ago |
---|---|---|
<$100 | Issue Full Refund | Issue Full Refund |
>=$100 | Issue Full Refund | Other Store Credit |
The BRMS’s central repository stores rule once they’ve been defined. A variety of applications can access, review, and edit rules in this system.
In an enterprise ecosystem, the rules engine allows other applications to access the rules repository and execute those rules at runtime. A request is sent to the BRMS with all the data that the rules engine needs to make a decision. Once the request has been checked against the relevant rules, the rules engine returns a decision. As a result of this decision, the application takes some specific action.
Business rule pseudo-code example:
Platinum club members
Apply a 20% discount
Or Else
Get 5% off
Also Read: Business Process Management – The What, Why, and How
Business decision-making can be automated with BRMSs across a wide range of industries and departments. The following are a few examples of BRMS use cases:
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An organization can benefit from a business rules management system in several ways. Among the key advantages are the following:
It is important to understand the differences between a BRMS and a business process management (BPM) system before understanding how they can be used together. BRMSs define, execute, and manage business rules. However, BPM systems help organizations increase efficiency and productivity by optimizing their business processes.
Tasks are performed according to clearly defined business rules. Business rules form the foundation of efficient processes when they are implemented and managed by a BRMS. Utilizing BPM, organizations can improve productivity, reduce costs, and improve compliance by optimizing processes.
The use of business rules management systems is widespread across industries. The following types of organizations can benefit from a BRMS:
The purpose of Business Rules Management Systems is to make it easier for non-technical users to define, maintain, and execute business rules.
Decisions can be made based on business rules or workflows can be guided by them. The process of documenting business rules can be complicated and costly due to the many competing standards used today. Business rule definition, business rule maintenance, and business rule analytics offer opportunities for UI and UX practitioners.
As businesses continue to operate in a decentralized and globalized manner, and as business operations become increasingly complex due to the ever-increasing capabilities of technology, BRMS, along with UX/UI professionals who serve the market, will continue to provide decision-makers with an increasing and very broad range of value-added services.