Business Rule Concepts - Getting to the Point of Knowledge [Paperback]

Ronald G. Ross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2005 | ISBN-10: 094104906X | ISBN-13: 978-0941049061 | Edition: 2nd

Is your current approach really working?

Are you sure you are addressing the right problems in the right ways?

Take a few hours to read about the most fundamental innovation in business operations and business computing in decades. It is not just about IT any more!

Decisioning, Requirements, Governance, Knowledge.

Radical in its simplicity, this concise, easy-to-read handbook presents a groundbreaking, common-sense approach to solving today's operational business problems. Find out why current IT methods have broken down and no longer scale.

Written by the father of business rules, here are proven answers. Get your company on the road to true agility!

New this Edition ...
* Decisioning
* Capturing best practices
* Enterprise design
* Really smart systems
* Building business vocabularies
* Structured verbalization for business communication
* Applied semantics and concept analysis
* Re-engineering governance

Introducing ... General Rulebook Systems (GRBS)

Plus all you need to know about ...
* Business rules
* Forms of business guidance
* Fact models
* Applying SBVR
* Innovations in compliance
* More effective process models
* Pragmatic knowledge retention
* Rule management

Content: The book is divided into four main parts:


Part 1: The Key Ideas ... aimed toward the general reader seeking to understand the basic ideas of the business rules paradigm. It starts with business vocabulary, moves on to business rules, and concludes by discussing implications for the business manager or project leader. The better your company gets at business rules and rule management the better it can become at the nuts and bolts of governance. The goal - smart governance.


Part 2: Business Vocabularies and Fact Models ... all about business vocabularies and fact models i.e., semantic structure. Part 2 discusses how to build a well-organized business vocabulary and to represent it as a graphical fact model. Fact models serve many important purposes other than simply design of data models or class diagrams, especially to express business rules, IT requirements, and other forms of business communication. So the discussion picks up with verbalization.


Part 3: Business Rules ... examines business rules in depth. The emphasis is on capture and communication of business rules in a form that is business-friendly yet robust. It explains the difference between business rules versus data or system rules. It also examines the surprising relationship between business rules and events. You will be guided through all the important things you need to know about business rules and their implications for business analysts.


Part 4: Enterprise Design ... explores the role business rules play in smart architectures, smart knowledge management, smart (simpler) business processes, and smart (really smart) systems. It examines point of knowledge, a real place the place where business rules happen. It explains how real-time compliance, continuous learning, and worker empowerment are a three-in-one solution. In closing, you are invited to probe the leading edge in achieving really thin, really agile, really dynamic (indeterminate) processes.

--This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Organizations, today, are very focused on how they can usefully model, integrate, and improve their operational performance. Every analyst needs to understand just how business rules, business processes, and performance measures work together to structure the enterprise architecture and to define business decisions. There is no one better at this than Ron. His new edition of Business Rules Concepts is a book that every business analyst must read.

Paul Harmon
Executive Editor, Business Process Trends --Paul Harmon Executive Editor, Business Process Trends

Ron's book, updated again based on its widespread use, is a solid, practical and usable guide to understanding and developing the business rules that drive decisioning in your business.

Organizations today must take control of their decision making. They must ensure it is compliant in the face of regulation, agile in the face of uncertainty, and rigorous in its use of information. Operational or transactional decisions are key as these little decisions add up - determining risk exposure, fraud loss, marketing effectiveness, customer relationships and much more. Only if the business rules behind these decisions are understood can organizations succeed.

Helpfully highlighted, Business Rules Concepts is equally useful for someone new to the topic and as a refresher or reference guide for experienced practitioners.

James Taylor
CEO, Decision Management Solutions --James Taylor CEO, Decision Management Solutions --This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ronald G. Ross is recognized internationally as the father of
business rules. He serves as Executive Editor of Business Rules
Community and its flagship publication,
Business Rules Journal. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences
world-wide. More than 50,000 people have heard him speak; many
more than that have read his books. His popular public seminars are
given through AttainingEdge and in Europe though IRM-UK.
Mr. Ross has served as Chair of the annual International Business
Rules Forum Conference since 1997. He was a charter member of the
Business Rules Group (BRG) in the 1980s, and an editor of the two
landmark BRG papers, The Business Motivation Model: Business
Governance in a Volatile World and the Business Rules Manifesto.
He is active in OMG standards development, with core involvement
in SBVR.
Mr. Ross is the author of eight professional books, including the
ground-breaking, first book on business rules The Business Rule Book
(1994) and Principles of the Business Rule Approach, Addison-Wesley
(2003). He holds a BA from Rice University and an MS in information
science from IIT. --This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Business Rule Solutions Inc; 2nd edition (July 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094104906X
• ISBN-13: 978-0941049061
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,189,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ronald G. Ross is recognized internationally as the 'father of business rules.' He has served as Co-Chair of the annual Business Rules Forum Conference since 1997. He was a charter member of the Business Rules Group (BRG) in the 1980s, and an editor of the two landmark BRG papers, "The Business Motivation Model: Business Governance in a Volatile World" (2000, revised 2005) and the "Business Rules Manifesto" (2003). He is also active in OMG standards development, having core involvement in SBVR (Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules).

Mr. Ross is Co-Founder and Principal of Business Rule Solutions, LLC (www.BRSolutions.com) along with Gladys S.W. Lam. His popular public seminars, the first on business rules (starting in 1996) and the longest-running in the industry, are given through AttainingEdge (www.AttainingEdge.com).

At BRS, Mr. Ross co-develops Proteus, its landmark business analysis and business rules methodology, which features numerous innovative techniques including the popular RuleSpeak. These are the latest offerings in a 35-year career that has consistently featured creative, business-driven solutions.

Mr. Ross also serves as Executive Editor and regular columnist of www.BRCommunity.com and its flagship on-line publication, Business Rules Journal. Mr. Ross was formerly Editor of the Data Base Newsletter from 1977 to 1998.

Mr. Ross is the author of 8 professional books. His newest are: Business Rule Concepts (2009), a 3rd edition of his popular, easy-to-read 1998 handbook, and Principles of the Business Rule Approach, Addison-Wesley (2003), featuring the business rationale and opportunity for business rules. An earlier work, The Business Rule Book (1994, 1997), was the seminal work in the field.

Mr. Ross received his M.S. in information science from Illinois Institute of Technology, and his B.A. from Rice University.

Specialties> Business Rule Solutions,LLC provides workshops, consulting services, publications, and methodology supporting business analysis, business rules, decision modeling, business vocabulary, and rule management.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant and easy to understand business rules vision., June 22, 1999

By 

David N. Wendelken (Fayetteville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge (Paperback)

Ross presents the underlying concepts of using business rules as a fundamental component of system development (or just running the business!) This is an easy book to read. It presents the concepts so clearly that even Dilbert's boss could understand it and act correctly.

His courses are also well worth attending.

All that is missing is how to build and implement an architecture that supports this vision (though the basic rules-based features that it must support are discussed).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have Reference for Business Analysts, September 28, 2009

By 

Miranda Shumaker (Roseville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge (Paperback)

I have been practicing the Business Rules Approach for the last 6 years and Ron Ross' 3rd Edition of Business Rule Concepts is a must have reference book for every Business Analyst. It is a great introductory and reminder of the core concepts to following and implementing the Business Rules Approach. I highly reccommend that this book accompany training on the Business Rules Approach from BR Solutions, as hands on activities and talking with the instructors face to face really help with integrating the concepts discussed in this book.

I don't believe this book is meant as a how-to guide on implementing a Business Rules Approach all the way through IT implementation as another reviewer mentioned as a fault. Although, that is an excellent idea for a subsequent book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Anyone Who Wants to Understand Business Rules, September 8, 2009

By 

Robert J. Dizinno (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Rule Concepts (Perfect Paperback)

In the spirit of full disclosure I will admit I have been a fan of Ron Ross's work since I first took a course with Ron and Gladys Lam some years ago (you should take the course too).

It took my team at work a long time to understand and begin to employ a structured business vocabulary as an essential part of business rule and requirements development. This 3rd Edition offers more substance, clarity and development of the underlying business rule concepts then the previous edition, is better organized, and since the numerous footnotes in the previous edition have either been eliminated or incorporated into the body of the work, reads easier and faster.

We used the 2nd edition as material for training our team but there remained some outstanding questions and gaps in our understanding. This 3rd edition does much to close those gaps and it will become the basis for our continued training and development of our methodology.