COMP208 - SAP Q&A€¦ · COMP208 BRFplus for ABAP The Framework for Business Rules Carsten...

COMP208BRFplus for ABAPThe Framework for Business Rules

Carsten Ziegler, Application Platform SAP AGSudhir Sangani Rao, NW BPEM BRMS SAP AG

© SAP 2008 / SAP TechEd 08 / COMP208

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This presentation outlines our general product direction and should not berelied on in making a purchase decision. This presentation is not subject toyour license agreement or any other agreement with SAP. SAP has noobligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this presentation or todevelop or release any functionality mentioned in this presentation. Thispresentation and SAP's strategy and possible future developments aresubject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reasonwithout notice. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind,either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warrantiesof merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. SAPassumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document, except ifsuch damages were caused by SAP intentionally or grossly negligent.


1. About Business Rules2. Quick Demo of BRFplus3. BRFplus Features and Components4. Scenario: Insurance Eligibility and Pricing5. Connectivity6. Further Information

Agenda


A little bit about Business Rules...

“Business rules or business rule sets describe the operations, definitions and constraints thatapply to an organization in achieving its goals.” (Wikipedia)

Business rules represent the policies, guidelines that drive operational business decisionsBusiness rules are owned by Business, not by IT

Examples for Business Rules

Validation Rules Claim Validation, Loan Application Validation

Rate Calculation Rules Computation of Taxes, Interest Rates, Sales Commissions, Premiums, Bonuses, Duties

Decision Rules Is Applicant Eligible for a Loan ProductCan this good be cleared by Customs?

Recommendation Rules Marketing Promotions, Medical Recommendations, Online Product Chooser

Personalization Rules Website Personalization, Product Personalization , Relationship Personalization

Internationalization andLocalization Rules

International Products e.g. Maintaining similar Insurance products across countriesCross border Custom Duties

Exceptions and Special Rules Exceptions, Special Accounts , Special Arrangements, etc.

Optimization and ConfigurationRules

Product Configuration, Deal Configuration

Business Rules are expressed intext rules (if … then … else …)decision tables/treesformulas

Examples from across Industries

Telecom Content Based Customizable Billing

Insurance New Products, Claims Settlement, Agent Commissions

Mortgage Eligibility, Pricing, Underwriting

Logistics & Shipping Parts Management, Duties Calculations, Pricing Calculations

Public Sector Tax Calculations, Customs Duties, Land Regulations, LicenseFee Calculations

Stock Exchanges Alert Engines

Education Fee Calculations, Course Selections

CRM Quotations, Campaigns, Discounts, Recommendations, Pricing,Cross Sell

HealthCare Claims, Patient Monitoring, Fraud Detection

Banking Relationship based Pricing, Scorecards, Credit Decisioning

Rules are Ubiquitous. Rules are Everywhere !!



Enforcing Business Rules – ConventionalMethods

BusinessUser

BusinessExpert

BusinessAnalyst (BA)

Rules as Tacit Knowledge

No/Semi AutomationAutomated Enforcement

Rules In DocumentsRules in Code

Rules inside Databases

Typical Customer Challenges

Zero visibility into business decisionsCritical business rules are locked in code or databasesBusiness has no visibility into how systems take decisions

Change resistant IT systemsBusiness rules can be very volatileHardwired business rules make change difficult for ITUnacceptably long testing and change cycle timesHigh costs of correction and rework

Inefficient and Costly Human ExpertsNeed to maintain a pool of trained expertsContinuous training and hiring costsVery complex rules and error prone & time consuming human decision making

Scattered knowledgeBusiness rules not centrally managedScattered across code, manuals and as tacit knowledgeInadequate, ambiguous and inconsistent business rules across the EnterpriseHigh risk of compliance violation



How is it achieved?

Can't we just have faster application development lifecycles?What to change?Where to change?Test the applicationPerform unit tests, functional tests, integration tests

With Business Rules FrameworksProvide a constrained environment for changeEnable Business Users to changeProvide integrated testing; impact of change is clearClear inputs and clear outputsRules are versioned and are auditable and are self documenting"Empower" users to feel comfortable about making the change


How do you "Empower" business users..?

Empowerment of business usersProvide a lifecycle management for rule changes.Provide integrated testing and simulation capabilities.Provide easy to use user interfaces and "Not Code“.Provide expressive concepts such as decision tables, decision trees and if-then rules formodeling business rules.


Examples of Business Rules..

Decision Table

Decision Tree

IF-THEN Rule


The key benefits of Business Rules

Higher degree of transparencyExplicit documentation of business practice decisions instead of secrets kept in code or some people’sheadsBetter understanding and predictability of application behaviorDecreased maintenance and testing costs because business rules are decoupled from application code

business users can modify, test and simulatereduction in modification cycle timequicker response to changing conditionsno downtime, no code change needed

Improved administration of business practice decisions because of change history and clear ownership ofrules

Faster development by modeling approachSAP applicationsPartners and customers in composite scenario

Convenient graphical representationRules can be displayed in the most practical and natural way

Decision TablesDecision TreesFlow ModelsScorecardsText Rules



Agenda


Quick Demoof BRFplus



Agenda


BRFplus Overview

BRFplus

Decision Table

Amount Transaction CheckType

0$..100$ None

> 100$ Internal None

> 100$ External 4-Eye

Decision Tree Formula …

(Quantity * 1.19) + ServCharge/

*

-

+

7 8 9

4 5 6

1 2 3

0 +/- ,

CustomerGroup

OpenItems OpenItems

A B,C

< 1000$ >= 1000$

CustomizingTables

SystemTables

Rules Processor

Rules Repository

front-end

back-end

Tools ServicesWorkbenchObject CatalogsWebServiceGenerationXML Export/ImportQueryTrace andSimulation

TransportVersioning andHistorizationCode GenerationExtensibilityDDIC BindingUnit/Currencyconversion Master Data

Tables


Functional Mode of Operation

Application Code

Function

ContextResult

Application codeprocesses BRFplus

function

Expression Formula: Bonus CalculationExpressions process

sub expressions

Expression Decision Table: Bonus DeterminationBRFplus function

processes assignedexpression

11


Event Mode of Operation

Application Code

Function

ContextResult

Application codeprocesses BRFplus

function

BRFplus functionprocesses rules fromassigned rule set(s)

Rules can change context andstart actions

1

*Ruleset: Risk Check

Some Expression Types

Boolean Boolean arithmetic supporting any number of operands, parenthesis, AND,OR, NOT

BRMS Connector Connects BRFplus with SAP NW BRM or partner products

Case Mapping of cases with results; “when … then …, when … then …”

Database Lookup Performs a database select to retrieve values for processing

Decision Table Sequentially processes a table of value ranges and returns the first row/allrows for which all ranges returned true

DecisionTree/Search Tree

Traverses a binary/non-binary tree with nodes being conditions and leafsbeing results

Formula Allows the definition of complex formulas to be evaluated at run-time

Random Number Gets a random number or determines whether a certain probability is met

Static ABAPMethod

Calls a static ABAP method of a class that implements a specific interface

Step Sequence Sequentially processes a number of expressions/functions keeping allavailable values (context / results) in a central work area

Value Range Checks whether a certain value lies within a value range

BRFplus allows to define new expression types, most features and services can be reused



Some Facts

Initial ShipmentsSAP NW 7.0 Enhancement Package 1Integrated into many SAP applications

Development LanguageBackend: ABAP Objects

comprehensive API to define and evaluate Business Rules

User Interface: WebDynpro for ABAPstandalone and reuse UIs

Customer/Partner EnhancementsUser interface is based on Model-View-Controller paradigmBackend and user interface are modular

Backend: usage of customer defined expression types easily possibleUser Interface: configuration of screens, development and replacement of screens possibleUser Interface: stand alone usage or embedding into another application possible



Agenda

Insurance Eligibility and Pricing

EligibilityDetermination of the eligibility status of the insurer from his demographic details

Check for completeness of required mandatory detailsValidation of given inputs and provide error messages

PricingCalculation of the premium quote for the insurer for the chosen insurance productand the face amount

Risk class categorization based on the health status of the insurerCalculation of premiums

ObjectiveTo ascertain eligibility and obtain a premium quote for the selected insuranceproduct, given his/her basic demographic details.



Scenario



Agenda

BRMS Connector

BenefitsConnection with NW BRM or any other BRMS possible

enables usage of existing BRMSenables use of very specialized BRMS

Connection between ABAP and Java stack

FeaturesConnects external rules engines and NW BRM with BRFplusCommunication based on RFC/JCO and Web ServicesAllows you to export the BRFplus design time information (XML Schema)Provides runtime data exchange (XML)Built-in integration with NW BRM for Java


Connectivity Architecture BRFplus - BRM


Modeling Steps

BRFplusCreate an expression of type BRMS Connector1

Specify the signature of the call - inputs/outputs2

Get the generated schema for the vocabulary3

NW BRMImport the vocabulary into NW BRM or externalrule engine4

Deploy the rules into AS Java5


How does the modeling of rules happen?

Create an expression of type BRMS Connector1



Specify the signature of the call - inputs/outputs2



Get the generated schema for the vocabulary3


Execution Steps

BRFplusBackend calls BRFplus1

BRFplus creates XML for input data conformant withgenerated XSD2

BRFplus calls java rule engine passing xml data (JCO)3

NW BRMUse the schema for rule definition.4

Java rule engine returns data to BRF plus5

NW BRM

BRFplus returns ABAP data to backend6



Demo of BRFplus-NW BRM Connector



Agenda


Planned Improvements

ExpressivenessExpression and Action Type improvements (e.g. BRMS Connector, DB Lookup)New Expression and Action Types (e.g. Email Action, BPM Connector, Loop Expression)Better integration of Decision Tables/Trees into the Rule setDeep Context

WorkbenchMerge of Catalog and RepositorySimplifications/Usability improvementsNew and improved Tools (e.g. for versioning)Excel import and export (for decision table data or test data)UI Configuration

MiscellaneousRule Debugger for non-developersMigration tools for migration to BRFplusRuntime Trace improvementsOptimization of generated code


Further Information

Related Workshops/Lectures at SAP TechEd 2008BPM101, Overview of Business Rules Management with SAP NetWeaver CE,LectureBPM201, Build the Business Rules Once and Let the End User (Business) ManageThem, LectureBPM260, The ABC's of Modeling and Using Business Rules in SAP NetWeaver CE,Hands-onBPM262, How to Use Business Rules With Business Process Management, Hands-on

SAP Online Helphttp://www.sap.com/education/

SAP Public Web:SAP Developer Network (SDN): www.sdn.sap.comBusiness Rules in SDN: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-rules-managementBusiness Process Expert (BPX) Community: www.bpx.sap.com

http://www.sap.com/education/

http://www.sdn.sap.com/

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-rules-

http://www.bpx.sap.com/


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