The business rule management market is starting to see growth around the world, as major vendors such as SAS, IBM, Oracle and SAP come to market with more mature and robust solutions.
The organisation gains greater visibility of the rules that govern its processes, enabling it to discover issues and solve problems.
Alfrieda Robertson, development manager, TriVector
However, the high costs of the technology and resistance to change among large organisations are holding back mass adoption of business rule engines and business rule management systems in South Africa.
Business rule management solutions are meant to enable companies to define, deploy, monitor and maintain organisational policies and the rules associated with them separately from software code. Business users take responsibility for defining business rules, while IT defines software requirements.
In theory, this should allow business users to quickly update business rules in production systems so they can keep pace with an evolving business environment. These business rules represent the enterprise's core business logic, guiding and controlling the basic business processes that form the backbone of any transaction.
But the complexities of implementation mean this market is proving slow to take off. "Business rule management is not a big market locally yet," says Alfrieda Robertson, development manager at consulting firm TriVector. "People are just starting to think about it."
Greater efficiency
In South Africa, TriVetcor has so far seen more aggressive adoption among mid-sized companies because they have more flexibility to make changes to business rules faster, says Robertson. Even in companies that start implementing business rule management systems or engines, adoption can be slow.
One challenge lies in securing buy-in for business rules management across the organisation, and getting business users to entrench it in how they work. Another obstacle lies in how it changes the responsibilities of business and IT, says Robertson.
One approach that often helps is to put in writing the responsibilities of business and IT and define the boundaries of each, she adds. But, even at the early stages of implementation, business rules management can yield rewards.
From harvesting business rules, analysing, modelling and implementing the final business solution, business rules management is meant to enhance business agility. Just analysing and documenting business rules helps to surface inconsistencies and gaps, allowing for the rules to be tightened. "Business people begin to understand how and why they do things," says Robertson.
"The organisation gains greater visibility of the rules that govern its processes, enabling it to discover issues and solve problems. All of this allows for greater efficiency, risk mitigation and sustainability," she says.
First published in the November 2013 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine.
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