disrupt the disruption · business rules and digital. the experience dimension of digital...

© Business Rule Solutions, LLC

Disrupt the Disruption: Engineering for Business Agility under Digital Transformation

by Ronald G. RossTwitter: @Ronald_G_Ross

Co-Founder & Principal, Business Rule Solutions, LLCBRSolutions.com

Executive Editor, Business Rules JournalBRCommunity.com

BBC 2019 Conference – Hollywood, FLNovember 13, 2019


About Ronald G. RossRonald G. Ross is Co-Founder and Principal of Business Rule Solutions, LLC (BRSolutions.com). BRS provides consulting, training and mentoring in support of business analysis, business rules, concept modeling, business knowledge engineering, and business agility.

Mr. Ross co-develops the landmark BRS methodology featuring numerous innovative techniques including the popular ConceptSpeak™ and RuleSpeak®

(free on RuleSpeak.com, now also in Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian and Polish). These are the latest offerings in a 45-year career that has consistently featured creative, business-driven solutions.

Mr. Ross serves as Chair of the annual Building Business Capability (BBC) Conference, the official conference of the IIBA®.

His newest book is Building Knowledge Blueprints: Enabling Your Data to Speak the Language of the Business (4Q, 2019) on concept models and business vocabulary. He is also co-author with John Zachman and Roger Burlton of the 2017 Business Agility Manifesto.

Among the 10 professional books he has written are also Building Business Solutions: Business Analysis with Business Rules 2nd ed. with Gladys S.W. Lam (2015), and Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge 4th ed. (2013).

Mr. Ross is recognized internationally as the ‘father of business rules.’ 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 (2000) and the Business Rules Manifesto (2003). He is also active in OMG standards development including SBVR.

Mr. Ross holds an M.S. in information science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Rice University.

2

Mr. Ross is Executive Editor and regular columnist of BRCommunity.comand its flagship on-line publication, Business Rules Journal. Sponsored by BRS, BRCommunity.com is an open community for professionals. Mr. Ross was formerly Editor of the Data Base Newsletter from 1977 to 1998.

© Business Rule Solutions, LLC3

“Intimate, one-off change is not the goal. The goal is scalable, sustainable change.”

Business Agility Manifesto F.3

What true business agility is


“Business agility cannot be achieved through agile software practices alone.”

Business Agility Manifesto J.1


http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjC6u_rrtXMAhWEgCYKHaccAp8QjRwIBw&url=http://mspmentor.net/cloud-computing/what-business-agility-why-your-customers-want-it&psig=AFQjCNHYBYC7e_RXYxcX0pFhYFqDX5VyXA&ust=1463170954438215


Digital tools

▪ Chat boxes

▪ Blockchain

▪ Data analytics

▪ Artificial intelligence

▪ etc.

▪ etc.Managing business knowledge is the most powerful digital tool of all.


www.BusAgilityManifesto.org

6



What Challenges Your Organizations Face Today

7


Data quality

“Data quality? What we actually have is a toxic data wasteland.”

ManagerShipping company


▪ wastes time▪ increases costs▪ weakens decision-making▪ angers customers▪ makes it more difficult

to execute strategy

Dangers of bad data

▪ imperils your company’s digital strategy


▪ wastes time▪ increases costs▪ weakens decision-making▪ angers customers▪ makes it more difficult

to execute strategy

Dangers of bad data

▪ imperils your company’s digital strategy

garbage-in, garbage-out

▪ imperils your company’s AI strategy


“More than 60% of all our staff who know our tribal knowledge will retire in the next 3 years.”

ManagerInsurance company

Knowledge retention


Business communication

“Why can’t we have any kind of deep discussion with business partners without always ending up in ITspeak?”

ManagerRailroad company

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCL25jO2PmMgCFZMyiAodgH0OXw&url=http://www.istockphoto.com/photos/sheepish+expression&psig=AFQjCNFTs7fLm23IBxf5xsu_HUkoCMiVfQ&ust=1443474539785545


Problems with your business processes: Internal perspective

▪ Rigidity

▪ Incorrect or Inconsistent business results

▪ Needless complexity

▪ Misalignment with business strategy


“The process seems designed to frustrate me.”

CustomerMajor bank

Unfriendly business processes

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCLm8q_HMqcgCFQeNDQodD7UDjA&url=http://www.envisionup.com/inspirational-ideas/unhappy-customers-help-make-your-business-better/&bvm=bv.104317490,d.cWw&psig=AFQjCNEdV5_ErARfYpscORjEBl9stlgBiw&ust=1444074971653003


Problems with your business processes: Customer perspective

▪ Poor service quality▪ Takes too long to get to an end-result▪ Not smart about end-results that should have been relatively

obvious early-on▪ Disjointed/unpredictable steps or interactions ▪ Information requests not well-integrated or clear about immediate

purpose▪ No clear sense of steady progression▪ Inconsistent results or answers to questions▪ Interim or end-results cannot be definitively explained or justified


Traceability, explanation & compliance

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCKf7zfWXmMgCFdKliAodr0cKUg&url=http://www.mindstepsinc.com/2013/11/hold-on-to-your-why/&bvm=bv.103388427,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNEZVYEbF1RnzmJ3mDWNJmurVJ_XvQ&ust=1443476593760538


“I need a group insurance capability that allows customers shopping-cart options in creating customized insurance products.”

Executive manager Insurance company

Reconfiguration agility

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCOi2wdDUosgCFQaMDQod38sAGg&url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidlahaye/3936272300&psig=AFQjCNHE4YoTLhdCldsi83RS_ndl_8_V_A&ust=1443836595923449


Unleashing creativity

"I'm looking for capability that lets our staff dream free of restrictions in evolving our products and services.“

High-Level Executive Government Agency

New Zealand

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCKCCreXTosgCFY39gAodREEHpQ&url=http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/portrait-of-serious-executive-removing-glasses-stock-footage/ev00620&bvm=bv.104317490,d.cWw&psig=AFQjCNGdfpW5S26xMCEh1iVSphl5ctZCRQ&ust=1443836312007291


How to Disrupt the Disruption

19


Building business capabilities: Missing ingredient

Technologies

Information

Processes

People


Knowledge

Technologies

Information

Processes

People

Building business capabilities: Complete picture

What makes the business smart?

▪ strategy▪ business vocabulary▪ business rules▪ operational business

decisions


Knowledge Analysis

Technologies

Information

Processes

People



decisions

Building business capabilitiesin the Knowledge Age


Business rules, data quality & integration



Rule: Three strikes and a batter is out.

Rule: Three outs and the team is retired for the inning.

Rule: Each team gets an at-bat in an inning.

Rule: Nine innings and the game is over (except if the score is tied).



“Data quality? What we actually have is a toxic data wasteland.”

ManagerShipping company

If you want high data quality –real business integration –you must play by the same rules.


Avoiding Data Quality ProblemsIX.5 A main cause of data quality problems is failure to consistently use authorized business definitions and business vocabulary as prescribed by a concept model and to faithfully follow business rules.

Retaining and Reusing Business KnowledgeV.5 Business knowledge covers all business rules independent of their employment in automated systems or manual workflows so they can be dynamically located, enforced, modified, and reused in every relevant situation.

Ensuring Consistency and RepeatabilityIX.4 By enabling consistent behavior and repeatable operational decisions, business rules are an essential part of business knowledge.

Why business rules


Avoiding ITSpeak

VI.1 Business knowledge should be expressed explicitly in a form accessible to all business audiences.

Example 1: If ACT-BL LT 0 then set OD-Flag to ‘yes’.

Example 2: An account may be considered overdrawn only if cash

withdrawal is greater than the current balance of the account.

Reference: RuleSpeak® – free on www.RuleSpeak.com

Why business rules


What is a business rule?

business rule: business criteria for shaping behavior or making decisions

What is a rule?

rule: guide for conduct or action

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (1f)

Reference: Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge (4th ed)

by Ronald G. Ross 2013, 162pp 30

Business rules


What business rules can do for you

“We documented 75% savings in projects by having the business rules defined in advance and made available to the projects at the start.”

managerlarge Insurance company

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiM3YvYkYHSAhXCr1QKHbPAACoQjRwIBw&url=http://www.successfulworkplace.org/2013/12/16/3-ways-get-ahead-work-far-will-go/&bvm=bv.146496531,d.cGw&psig=AFQjCNHalM_qUvowzP6E87ZPcIsLPELQPw&ust=1486665167767960


Business rules and digitalThe Experience Dimension of Digital Disruption, p.35


Business rules and digitalThe Experience Dimension of Digital Disruption, p.35

Managers “… must worry about more than whether their overall costs are lower than rivals. If a part of their process is inefficient, or inconvenient for consumers, [digital disrupters] may well grab hold of it.”

Thales Teixeira - Harvard Business School


Knowledge Analysis

Technologies

Information

Processes

People

Building business capabilitiesin the Knowledge Age



decisions


Perpetual Change

Business Value

ConceptModel

Business Knowledge

Business Knowledge-Base

Value Chain Model

Value Chain

helps ensure

provides access to

framessupports

describes

Business Integrity

impacts

delivers

requires

is part of

Business Strategy

drives

supports

Business Capability

requires

depends on

is part of

is part of

The Business Agility Manifesto: Core Concept Model


business capability: a distinctive combination of business assets, including business knowledge, that can be used to accomplish an objective, perform one or more tasks, or achieve an end

business integrity: soundness of business results, resulting in part from uncompromising adherence to business rules, including contractual obligations and commitments

business knowledge: the total set of business concepts, their organizing connections, and the business rules upon which the existence of the business depends

business knowledge-base: business knowledgerendered in explicit, accessible, protected, sharable, re-usable, retainable, and updatable form

business rule: business criteria for shaping behavior or making decisions

business strategy: the ends (vision, goals and objectives) that a business seeks to satisfy, and the means (mission, strategies and tactics) the business elects to achieve them

business value: the worth of a business product or service as judged by business customers according to its qualities or utility

concept: something conceived in the mind

concept model: a set of business concepts as represented by standard terms and business definitions along with the logical connections among the concepts

perpetual change: unceasing alteration, modification or mutation of circumstances in a business ecosystem and the responses of the business to them

value chain: the business knowledge and work needed to deliver products or services to a market organized according to their natural dependences

value chain model: a representation or depiction of a value chain

The Business Agility Manifesto: Core Concept Model

Reference: Business Knowledge Blueprints: Enabling Your Data to Speak

the Language of the Business, by Ronald G. Ross, 2020, 280 pp.


IIBA’s Business Analysis Core Concept Model™

Change: a controlled transformation of organizational systems

Context: the parts of the environment that are relevant to a change

Need: a problem, opportunity, or constraint with potential value to a stakeholder

Solution: a specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context

Stakeholder: a group or individual with a relationship to a change or a solution

Value: the importance of something to a stakeholder in a context

from BABOK version 3, with permission

37


concept model: a set of business concepts as represented by standard terms and business definitions along with the logical connections among the concepts

concept: something conceived in the mind

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

Concept model

“You can’t expect customers and software developers to make up for what you can’t communicate yourself precisely.”

Reference: Business Knowledge Blueprints: Enabling Your Data to Speak

the Language of the Business, by Ronald G. Ross, 2020, 280 pp.


Enabling Effective Business CommunicationV.3 Effective, unambiguous communication of business knowledge depends on shared understanding. That understanding must be deliberately managed by means of a concept model, which also serves to retain knowledge and enable its reuse.

Avoiding Data Quality ProblemsIX.5 A main cause of data quality problems is failure to consistently use authorized business definitions and business vocabulary as prescribed by a concept model and to faithfully follow business rules.

Eliminating Scrap and ReworkIX.3 Properly designing the structure of business concepts to ensure consistency in business results – i.e., designing a concept model – will avoid needless subsequent redesign and reconstruction of databases and systems.

Integrating Business ProcessesIV.4 Trying to eliminate silos or product pipelines and improve end-to-end processes in a value chain without a concept model will at best prove difficult. It will guarantee rework and delays.

Why a concept model?


Concept models: Announcing …


Knowledge Analysis

Technologies

Information

Processes

People

Building business capabilities

in the Knowledge Age

What makes the

business smart?


decisions


Why was my mortgage application rejected?




Is Character OK?Is Capacity OK? Is Capital OK? Is Collateral OK? Are Conditions OK?

Should a mortgage

application be approved?

“5 C’s of Credit Analysis”http://www.mbda.gov/node/438

http://www.mbda.gov/node/438



Is Collateral OK?

Should a mortgage


Is Guarantee Required?

Is Loan-to-Value OK?

Is Property Type Acceptable?

Is Location Acceptable?

Reference: DecisionSpeak – free on http://www.brsolutions.com/b_ipspeakprimers.php

http://www.brsolutions.com/b_ipspeakprimers.php



Is Collateral OK?

Should a mortgage


Is Location Acceptable?

Decision Rule: A location must be considered unacceptable if any of the following are true. The location is:

▪ a fly-in community▪ a single industry town▪ near a federally designated hazard waste area.

Decision Rule: A location must be considered a fly-in community if any of the following are true. It:

▪ lacks rail and water connections ▪ relies entirely on bush aviation ▪ is served primarily by ice or gravel road

for part of the year.



Knowledge Analysis

Technologies

Information

Processes

People

Building business capabilities

in the Knowledge Age

What makes the

business smart?


decisions


“We literally tried to re-engineer the process 5 times. Nothing worked. Looking back, it’s clear we actually needed to bust some policies.”

High-level managerPharmaceutical company

Policy busting


Current implicit business policy:

All parts of a mortgage application must be reviewed and finalized before a decision may be given to an applicant.

Major North American bank

Policy busting – example 1


New, explicit business policies:

(1) A decision may be given to an applicant as soon as all parts of a mortgage application are reviewed and finalized except the property inspection.

(2) A mortgage application that is approved but not-yet-inspected should be given a ‘subject-to-inspection’ approval decision.

Major North American bank




Current implicit business policy:

“Salespeople should be paid commissions within 15 days after the end of the month.”

Large, many-branch luxury car dealership



New, explicit business policy:

“Salespeople should be paid commissions within 15 days after deals are closed.”

Large, many-branch luxury car dealership


Concluding Thoughts

52


“We mostly work no longer in thing factories, but rather in thought factories. Waste and churn is incredible.”

Juliet FuntBBC Conference Keynote

The world we live in today


“Developing software faster is not sufficient, in and of itself, for survival and growth … .”

Business Agility Manifesto VII.5

Business agility


Knowledge in digital

Well-managed business knowledge is your most powerful digital tool of all.

▪ Core business knowledge means business rules, vocabulary, decisions, and strategy.

▪ Rules are an excellent digital tool.

▪ Data quality is more visible than ever.

▪ Explainable decisions are essential in digital experience.

▪ Bust policies, then rethink processes.


Ronald G. RossBusiness Rule Solutions, LLC

[email protected]

Tweets: @Ronald_G_Ross

Thank You!

Be digitally agile by engineering your core business knowledge!

56

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjC6u_rrtXMAhWEgCYKHaccAp8QjRwIBw&url=http://mspmentor.net/cloud-computing/what-business-agility-why-your-customers-want-it&psig=AFQjCNHYBYC7e_RXYxcX0pFhYFqDX5VyXA&ust=1463170954438215

disrupt the disruption · business rules and digital. the experience dimension of digital...

Documents