Rapid Rules Discovery - When Business Cant Wait.pdf

8/14/2019 Rapid Rules Discovery - When Business Cant Wait.pdf

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Rapid Rules Discovery

When Business Cant Wait

Dan Chaput, Lambert Technical Serviceswww.lambert-tech.com

Business Process Management ConferenceNew York, NY November 7, 2006

Rapid Rules Discovery, When Business Cant WaitDan Chaput Lambert Technical Services

2006 Lambert Technical Services, Lebanon, CT

2

Introductions

Dan Chaput

Lambert Technical Services

Knowledge Partners, Inc (KPI)

The attendees


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Rapid Rules Discovery, When Business Cant Wait

Dan Chaput Lambert Technical Services


3

Overview

A brief introduction to business rules and a

business rules approach Case study overview

How the approach was adapted

Project management considerations Planning, SWOT Analysis, defining threats and

success

Measurements

The approach in action

Results, lessons learned, Good Practices,pitfalls



4

Business Rules An

introduction

What are business rules?

Where are business rules found?

What is a business rules approach?

In what ways do organizations use andmanage business rules?


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5

KPIs Rule Maturity Model

Change is driven

by business

analysts. Analysis

of BRsand

business processis possible and

automated. Ability

to predict business

impact of change is

still low.

BRs are separated

through structured

BR templates and

BR analysis/design

techniques. BRMS

technology is

adopted.

Business analysts

define and change

the business

process and

business form of

rules.

Cost of change is

lower. Ability to

predict business

impact of change is

still low. Analysisof BRs is possible,

but is manual.

Business Rules are

understood as

separate aspects of

business logic.

BRs exist in a

separate source

rule repository,

maybe separate

automation

technology.

Business analysts

know the business

process and

challenge the rules.

I/T traces rules to

systems.

Level 1

Cost of change is

high. Ability to

predict business

impact of change is

low.

Business Rules

(BR) are

intermingled and

buried in code,

documents, and

peoples heads.

There is talk about

harvesting BRs

from people or

docs and mining

BRs from code.

Business ValueMINIMUM MAXIMUM

Technical StateIMMATURE MATURE

Business ControlMINIMUM MAXIMUM

Auto-analysis of

BRs is common

practice, reducing

cost of BR change

and testing evenlower. Ability to

predict business

impact of change is

better.

BRs are separated

as a standard

practice through

integration of

source repository

and execution

technology.

What ifscenario

capability enables

business analysts

to generate and

test automated

BRs.

Ability to predict

business impact of

change is possible.

BRs are defined in

repository,

associated with

business metrics,

and traceable to

business value.

Business analysts

can assess

business impact

because relevant

data is integrated

with BR infra-

structure for

business

prediction

purposes.

Ability to predict

business impact of

change and protect

business integrity

is common place.

BR governance is

integrated into

business

processes.

The Agile, Learning

Organization

is born and sustained.

RULES SHARED ACROSS PROJECTSRULES AT PROJECT LEVEL ONLY RULES SHARED ACROSS ENTERPRISE

Level 0 Level 3Level 2 Level 4 Level 5

Knowledge Agility Consistencyand Alignment

Prediction StewardshipUnaware



6

Business Rules an example

Sample rule, expressed in English:

"Regardless of anything to the contrary in this booklet, if your

medical insurance terminates for any reason including death, you...

may elect within 30 days... to continue such medical insurance..." -Attributed to the booklet: Group Insurance for 1-14 Employees, Consolidated Group Trust, The Hartford


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7

The KPI STEP Process

Our case study utilized the STEP process. Other rules methodology or

software development life cycle with a rules component could beadapted to a rapid rules discovery approach.

Separate the rules sothe business knows where to find them, can applythem consistently.

Trace rules so the business knows where the rules come from (policies,

legislation), why they exist (objectives) and where they are utilized (manual

procedures, automation).

Externalize rules so the business audience can understand the rules in

their own language and can challenge them.

Position rules for change so the business can evolve at its own pace in its

own way. Barbara Von Halle, Business Rules Applied, Wiley 2002



8

Case Study - Profile

Business Focus Insurance underwriting

Business Rules Background Some exposure

No formal experience

Goals Objectives To move the project along

100% Rule Discovery

Delivery of rules to IT for implementation


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9

Case Study - Profile

Process Business driven initiative

All relevant stakeholders present

All work done together, as single group

IT present as observer

Some pre-work, document gathering of

current rules, process models and other

documentation



10

Scoping

Rule

Discovery

Document

Processes

Rule

Formalization

Glossary

Development

Rule

Analysis

Typical Process

Iterations of the

discovery process

Iterations of the

analysis

process

Adapted from Barbara Von Halle, Business Rules Applied, Wiley 2002


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11

Scoping

Rule

Discovery

Document

Processes

Rule

Formalization

Glossary

Development

RuleAnalysis

Adapted Process

Iterations of the entire process

Adapted from Barbara Von Halle, Business Rules

Applied, Wiley 2002



12

SWOT Analysis

Threats:

Running out of time

Maintaining energy

Missing detail in the speed

Opportunities:

To train in a real world

situation and deliver usable

project deliverables

Weaknesses:

Little rules experience

No breakout sessions

Strengths:

Belief in the concept

Stakeholder participation

Business Driven


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13

Threats to success

Small, unseen and very

dangerous threats

Disasters with no hope

of recovery

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/biology/mosquito/index.htm, 3/06

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/696017.stm, 3/06



14

Declaring Success?

Rule Maturity Model what level do you

want to get to, why and when?

Critical Success Factors At multiple

levels for the organization, the project and the rules

engagement

Project planning is it complete?


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What and how to measure?

Number identified

number documented

Glossary, terms, and fact

models

Number identified,

comfort factor

Rule groups identified

Number identified,

number documented

Business processes refined

Estimated percent

complete, and

comfort factor

Scope completed



16


Completeness

and quality

Other modeling (e.g.

data/object) and traceability

documented

Completeness

and quality

Business traceability

documented

Number identified,

number

documented

Rules documented

Number identified,

comfort factor

Rules discovered


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17


Formal process

applied to rule

groupings

Rule Analysis Quality

Complete, unambiguous

Formal process

applied to major

components

Quality reviewed, signed

off, agreed to, correct

and if it is good?



18

The Training Component

Who was trained? Training for the entire group

What was included? Defined business rules

Discussed where business rules are found Exercises in gathering, documenting, analyzing, and

managing business rules

Why train? To establish baseline understanding, stakeholder

buy-in

To train future business rule stewards


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The approach First Iteration

Setting project scope

Current and future state of rules

Account for new business strategies

Roles and responsibilities

Review of existing business process models

Business rule Identification

Extensive exercise in rule identification and

documentation

Beginning the glossary



20

The second Iteration

Scope revised

Importance realized through meanderings

from first iteration

Business process revised Details added, parallel, duplicate paths

documented

Added rule analysis, decision tables

New rule sets, group consensus process


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21

The third iteration

Scope revised Process major revisions

Parallel, duplicate paths recognized

Exception, override processes extracted from

rules

Rule Analysis review and revision

Rule Analysis duplicate and overlapping

rules revealed



22

The wrap-up

Business presentation to IT

Scope discussion

Business process model walk-through

Rule walkthrough Implementation model


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Good Practices for rapid rule

discovery?

Must do processes

Scope definition

Roles & Responsibilities, discussed, documented and

assigned

Negotiable processes

Depth and type of business process modeling

Depth of glossary

Deferred processes

Formal rule management and rules governance



24

Conclusions Lessons

Learned People

Make sure the right people (e.g. decision

makers) are really present

Have a core team that gets the initial training

Subject matter experts can get by with a

shorter overview


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25

Conclusions Lessons

Learned

People Participants and leaders must be flexible, able

to table tasks, able to time-box, be

comfortable with partially complete

deliverables

Assign a librarian who knows the organization

and its systems and documents

Assign communication and document

distribution responsibilities



26

Conclusions Lessons

Learned Process

Best to have an initial needs assessment andcommunications to identify existing rulesources

Establish roles and responsibilities up front This approach is not for everyone, not

everyone can do it, not everyone will like it

Identify critical success factors (CSFs) for thebusiness process and rule training anddiscovery processes


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27

Conclusions Lessons

Learned

Process Capturing terms is a must, a fully developed

fact model can wait

Scope, absolutely required, must be

constantly revisited

Process modeling painful but you must, this

is where new decision points and groups of

business rules are discovered



28

Questions

and answers

Contact information: Dan Chaput

email: [email protected]

phone: 860.208.1464

Rapid Rules Discovery - When Business Cant Wait.pdf

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