Business Rule Solutions: Business Rules vs. System Design Choices
Ron Ross asks, “Do you know the difference between a business rule and a system design choice?” Read his Column this month to find out. Business rules fall into two fundamental categories: rules that shape concepts, and rules that guide human activity. These rules are called ‘definitional rules` and ‘behavioral rules`, respectively. This Column explains everything the business process professional needs to understand about these two fundamental categories of business rules.
Ron Ross
Ronald G. Ross is Co-Founder and Principal of Business Rule Solutions, LLC (www.BRSolutions.com). BRS provides workshops, consulting services, publications, and methodology supporting business analysis, business rules, business vocabulary, and rule management. His popular public seminars on business rules and business analysis, the first on business rules (starting in 1996) and the longest-running in the industry, are given through AttainingEdge (www.AttainingEdge.com).
At BRS, Mr. Ross co-develops Proteus®, its landmark business analysis and business rules methodology, which features numerous innovative techniques including the popular RuleSpeak® (available free through www.BRCommunity.com). These are the latest offerings in a 30-year career that has consistently featured creative, business-driven solutions.
Mr. Ross also serves as Executive Editor of www.BRCommunity.com and its flagship on-line publication, Business Rules Journal. He is a regular columnist for the Journal's Commentary section which also features John Zachman, Chris Date, Terry Halpin, and Roger Burlton. BRCommunity.com, hosted and sponsored by BRS, is a vertical community for professionals working with business rules and related areas. Mr. Ross was formerly Editor of the Data Base Newsletter from 1977 to 1998.
Mr. Ross is recognized internationally as the "father of business rules." He has served as Co-Chair of the annual Business Rules Forum Conference since 1997. He was a charter member of the Business Rules Group (BRG) in the 1980s, and an editor of the two landmark BRG papers,"The Business Motivation Model: Business Governance in a Volatile World" (2000, revised 2005) and the "Business Rules Manifesto" (2003). He is also active in OMG standards development for business rules and business models.
Mr. Ross is the author of eight professional books. His newest are: Business Rule Concepts (2005), a second edition of his popular, easy-to-read 1998 handbook, and Principles of the Business Rule Approach, Addison-Wesley (2003), featuring the business rationale and opportunity for business rules. An earlier work, The Business Rule Book (1994, 1997), was the seminal work in the field.
Mr. Ross received his M.S. in information science from Illinois Institute of Technology, and his B.A. from Rice University.
Latest posts by Ron Ross (see all)
- Business Rule Solutions: Empowering People with Core Business Knowledge: Concept Models - October 5, 2020
- Business Rule Solutions: Getting the Knowledge Payload of Processes—Concept Models - July 6, 2020
- Business Rules Solutions: Blueprinting Business Knowledge: Concept Models - May 4, 2020
- Business Rules Solutions: The Problems Addressed by Business Rules Foreword to Business Rules: Management and Execution - March 2, 2020
- Business Rules Solutions: Introducing Business Knowledge Blueprints: Achieving Shared Understanding Using Concept Models - February 3, 2020
