This is the final post in the Business Rules and the SDLC series.Earlier posts in this series

1. Business Rules and Software Requirements
2. Business Rules and Application Design
3. Introducing the Business Rules Development Cycle
4. Business Rules and Testing

I have to assert that the real value of adopting Business Rules Technology is realized in the maintenance phase of an application.

This by itself is not a new idea, but just one that needs constant emphasis, to fight off all those who stick their guns to a conventional approach even when it is failing!

The Kinds of Business Rule Changes

Earlier in the series, especially in the post on Business Rules and Software Requirements, I have indicated that Business Rules Change Requests come at a different pace, and from a different quarter as opposed to software change requests.

Talking of changes, you have strategic changes to your rules, and you have tactical changes to your rules. Strategic changes reflect longer term business goals, and Tactical changes reflect short term business goals.

The path along the Rule Development Lifecycle that these change requests will trigger will depend on whether the changed request is tactical or strategic as the below graphic represents.

Change Management easier with Business Rules

Here is my bulleted list of some of my reasons!

1. Business Rules evolve along the Business Rules Life Cycle
2. Business Rules are owned by the Business and not IT
3. Using a BRMS, Business Rules can be externalized in a simple English like format, or as Excel Tables or as Visio Diagrams.
4. This means that these rules can be comprehended and even changed by Business personnel directly, with IT’s help. IT experts are required LESS!
5. Business Rules testing is independent of system testing cycles, and follows its own cycle. This results in far lesser turnaround times.

The Final Punch >> Business Rules extend the Life of your application

I have heard that the average life of a software application is 3-5 years before it requires a major upgrade or re-engineering.

For a business rule intensive application, like a Mortgage Loan Processor, using Business Rules should extend the life of the application by upto and greater than 2 years.

This follows from the fact that Business Rules are NOT Requirements and Business Rules change like Hell ! Now, when business rules are externalized from the software, they introduce stability and foresight into the design itself.

Summary and Final Words

1. The changes to Business Rules are either tactical or they are strategic.
2. Business Rules make change management to Business Rule intensive application easier compared to conventional approaches
3. Business Rules can extend the life of Rule intensive application by upto and greater than 2 years

Final words on this Series itself

It has taken me some time to finish this series.It required quite some thought, and some work with the Visio diagrams.

I have omitted writing on the Deployment aspect because, in retrospect, I thought it is not so important as the others. I hope it was as useful as I had intended it would be.