I just read an interesting article about the importance of using a "rule-driven business process management tool." It was written by Pegasystems who sells one! The article is called Six Myths of Rules and Business Process Management. See link below.
Basically, what I got out of this article, from a Business Analyst's perspective, is that you must gather and document business rules along with processes, otherwise you are not really understanding the true nature of the process. Of course they are trying to sell their software, and the author of this article is arguing against getting a rules engine and then a separate business process management package. He warns against storing rules in a different place from processes:
"To separate modeling is to encourage gaps . . . To be effective in building BPMS applications one has to think about, analyze, abstract, and model the declarative rules in conjunction with other elements such as the information model, the organization model, the flows, and the user interaction. The appropriate use of business rules changes the topology of process flows. It simplifies the flows and facilitates the management of applications involving digitized rules and flows."
I think this supports several of our teachings:
- Putting business rules in each process template reminds Business Analysts to gather both together.
- Including business rules in our course Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements supports the relationship.
- Showing how rules are also related to data supports the need for multi-modeling and the importance of data.
To read the article visit Pegasystems.com. This link requires a registration and login to download the article.
