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The BusinessRule RevolutionBook Excerpt

Running Business the Right Way

Editors:Barbara von Halle and

Larry Goldberg

Guest Contribution:John Zachman

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WHITE PAPER Table of Contents (included here)

Introduction: Welcome to the Business Rule Revolution Chapter 1: The Essential Business Rule Roadmap Contributing Authors Getting the book and other books from Happy About

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C o n t e n t s

The Business Rule Revolution vii

This is the Table of Contents (TOC) from the book foryour reference. The eBook TOC (below) differs in pagecount from the tradebook TOC.

Letter from Editor An Important Letter from the Editors: Is theBusiness Rule Revolution Real? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii

Authors Contributing Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Introduction Introduction: Welcome to the BusinessRule Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii

Part I The Compelling World of Business Rules

Chapter 1 The Essential Business Rule Roadmap. . . . 3

What is the Business Rule Revolution? . . . . . . . . . . .3What Exactly Are Business Rules? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5What is the Business Rules Approach? . . . . . . . . . . . 6Putting the Business First. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7What is the Rule Maturity Model?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9What the Rule Maturity Model is Not . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

How the Rule Maturity Model is Used Today . . . . . . 12Todays Leaders: RMM Levels 1, 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Tomorrows Leaders: RMM Levels 3, 4, 5 . . . . . . . .17The Rule Maturity Model and the ChangingRelationship between Business and IT . . . . . . . . . .20What Happens Next-Technology Predictionsin the Rule Maturity Model? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Summary and Future Vision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 2 Business Rules Marketplace Today

and Tomorrow: Based on a

Maturity Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Roots of the Business Rules Approach . . . . . . . . . . 23Short-term Purpose of the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Longer-term Purpose of the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

NOTE:


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viii Contents

1. Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2. Point of Contact for the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273. Business Rule Champion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274. Scope of Business Rules Approach. . . . . . . . . . . 285. Major Motivations for the Business

Rules Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286. The Need for Good Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307. Is a BRMS Part of the Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318. Is a BPM or Workflow Product Part

of the Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319. Where Are Source Rules Stored? . . . . . . . . . . . . 3210. Process for Discovering Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3211. Current Sources of Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3312. Anticipated or Actual Classifications

of Target Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

13. Desired Software Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3514. Common Current States of Rule Maturity . . . . . 3715. Common Target States of Rule Maturity . . . . . . 38Survey Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Lessons in the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Next Steps for the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Reference to Another Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chapter 3 Enterprise Architecture: Managing

Complexity and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43The Changing Enterprise Concept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Increased Complexity in the Information Age . . . . . 47The Zachman Framework for

Enterprise Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49A Framework Metaphor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54The Zachman Framework and Business Rules . . . . 56Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 4 The Business Architecture of Business

Rules Based Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Business Rules in the Context of BusinessEnterprise Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60A Brief Discussion of the KPI RMM and itsImpact on Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

An Architectural Approach to Business Rules . . . . . 63
http://chapter2.pdf/http://chapter2.pdf/


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The Business Rule Revolution ix

The Rule Authoring and Governance

Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65The Rule Design Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68The Rule Deployment Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . .69A BriefBut ImportantDigressionfrom Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Returning to the Architectural Considerationsin the Design Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Deployment Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74A Special Problem: Business Rules versusBusiness Process Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Part II The Business Side of Business Rules

Chapter 5 Business Engineering and the Role of

Business Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

A Definition of Business Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Three Ways to Represent Knowledge BehindBusiness Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83The Importance of Capturing Decisions inBusiness Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84Business Decisioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86Incorporating Business Level Specifications withAutomation Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87The Gap in Business Entities Today . . . . . . . . . . . . 89The Gap in Business Processes Today . . . . . . . . . . 90The Business Rule Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Back to Business Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Chapter 6 A BPM-Driven Approach to Business

Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

About OPERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100Business Drivers for OPERSs Business Rules . . . 100Establishing a Business Rules Group andRelated Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102IT-Driven Approach versus Business andBPM-Driven Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103The Business-Driven Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113


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x Contents

Chapter 7 Modeling the Business: Improving Process

Models through Business Rules . . . . . . . . 117Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117The Impact of Business Rules on theProcess Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119The Impact of Business Rules on theData Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Business Rules and Business SystemRequirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Business Rules and Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 8 Better Rules Through Innovative

Rule-Authoring Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Laying the Foundation: The Concepts andComplexity Behind the Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142The Learning Curve and Dealing WithRule Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145The Rule Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Wizards Are Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Application Emulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Ongoing Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Conclusions and Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Part III The Technology Side of Business Rules

Chapter 9 The Role of the Rule Architect in

Organizing Thousands of Rules . . . . . . . . 165

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Introducing the Role of the Rule Architect . . . . . . . 166Architecture: General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Architecture: Rule-Specific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Relationship of the Rule Architect toOther Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169BPMS and BRMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171How Best to Write a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173How to Express Rules in Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174How to Organize Rule Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Summary of the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179


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The Business Rule Revolution xi

Suggested Topics to Explore Further. . . . . . . . . . .180

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180

Chapter 10 Building a Business Rules Architecture

that Will Stand the Test of Time . . . . . . . . 181

The Climate of Todays Global Market Requiresa Business Rules Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181Delivering Product Strategy ThroughBusiness Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183What is Business Rules Architecture? . . . . . . . . . .184Process, Rules, Objects and How TheyWork Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185How to Identify Rules vs. Non-rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 186What is Considered a Business Rule? . . . . . . . . . .186What is Not Considered a Business Rule?. . . . . . .187

Guidelines for the Business RuleAcquisition Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188Where and How to Find the Business Rules . . . . .188Business Rule Analysis Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . .189Business Rule Implementation Guidelines . . . . . . .190Guidelines for Defining an EnterpriseBusiness Rules Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190Guiding Principles for Defining an EnterpriseBusiness Rules Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191Business Rules Design Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . .192Roles and Responsibilities of Individuals Involvedin Business Rules Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193The Business Rules Architect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194Business Rules Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Systems Integration Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195The Controversy of Who Owns theBusiness Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Chapter 11 Positioning the Enterprise for

Business Rules: People, Processes,

and Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

The Call for Business Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201The Starting Point for Business Rulesin the Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202People: The Collaborative Organization. . . . . . . . .203Process: Stewardship for the

Tactical Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205


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xii Contents

Organization: Governance for the

Strategic Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Chapter 12 Achieving Rule Maturity for

Competitive Advantage A Case

Study of Equifax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211A Recent History of Business Rules at Equifax . . . 213Why did Equifax select ILOG JRules? . . . . . . . . . . 216How is JRules helping Equifax?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217How Have Customer Experiences Like EquifaxsInfluenced ILOG to Enhance JRules? . . . . . . . . . . 219Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221What do Equifax Customers Think?. . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Looking AheadInterConnect and JRules 6 . . . . . 223Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Chapter 13 Implementing an Enterprise

Policy Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Beyond Productivity Gain toEnterprise Policy Hubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231The Blaze Advisor Business RulesManagement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Key Strengths and Features of Blaze Advisor . . . . 236Blaze Advisor Customers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Definition of an Enterprise Policy Hub . . . . . . . . . . 241

The Benefits of an Enterprise Policy Hub . . . . . . . 245Best Practices in Implementing anEnterprise Policy Hub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Integrating an Enterprise Policy Hub withBPM, SOA, and BI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Chapter 14 Putting the Business Back in

Business Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

The Significance of RMM Level 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255The Greatest Challenge for RMM Level 2 . . . . . . . 256Meeting the Challenge of RMM Level 2. . . . . . . . . 257Sample Best Practices and Standards Today . . . . 258Enterprise Architecture, the Zachman


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The Business Rule Revolution xiii

Framework, and Business Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Separating Business Rules in a Process Chart . . .261Separating Business Rules in a Use Case. . . . . . .262The Rule-Rich Decision As a CriticalBusiness Lever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Business vs. Technical Analysis ofBusiness Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265Tracing Business Rules to Process Charts in theKPI STEP Workbench. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266Tracing Business Rules to Use Cases in theKPI STEP Workbench. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268Tracing Object Models to Business Rules in theKPI STEP Workbench. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270Pulling It All Together and Delivering RuleMaturity Model Level 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .272

Beyond Rule Maturity Model Level 2 . . . . . . . . . . .273Summary and Lessons Learned from RMMLevel 2 Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Essential Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Part IV Wrap Up

Chapter 15 The Time is Now: The Economic Imperative

for the Business Rules Approach. . . . . . . 279

About KPI About Knowledge Partners, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287IBM Rational Unified Process orRUP Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287

Business Rules Mining Methodology . . . . . . . . . . .288KPI Rule Maturity Model (KPI RMM) . . . . . . . . .288KPI STEP License Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289

Your Book Create Thought Leadership forYour Company? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291


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The Business Rule Revolution 1

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Introduction: Welcome to the

Business Rule Revolution

Barbara von Halle

Why ThisBook?

Business rules are everywhere. The right onesbring success, represent the smartest thinking,and make people such as customers feel good.The wrong rules bring trouble and uncertainty.You never know when the wrong rules maystrike. You probably dont even know which onesthey are.

Obviously, business rules are the very core ofany business and determine whether it succeedsand how well, or fails and how badly. And yet, thecurrent state of business rule best practices inthe marketplace is unknown, until this book. Thisbook is part of a series destined to be the Voiceof the Business Rule Revolution, sharing and

measuring its progress.

The Business Rule Revolution is the awakeningof business leaders to the importance ofbusiness integrity and governance throughmanagement of individual rules. Someorganizations are making great investments in it.Some have not begun. And most, aresomewhere in the middle. But, there is nopublished book to serve as an anchor pointabook where real people share real experiencesso that the Business Rule Revolution does itsjob.


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2 Introduction

Six important aspects of the book are:

1. It is for managers and decision-makers whomake things happen in their organizations.

2. It addresses business rules to be leveragedfor agility, compliance, and corporateintelligence as a key mechanism forengineering the business itself.

3. It is not meant to be read cover-to-cover.

4. Together, the sections provide astep-by-step management approach thatcrosses business and informationtechnology barriers.

5. Real case studies are written by real peopleas practiced in well-respected corporations,government agencies, consultancies, andsoftware vendors.

6. Leading technology is highlighted.

Who Is ThisBook For?

This book is for anyone interested in starting,planning, learning about, or participating in theBusiness Rule Revolution. These are the peoplewho see the value and want to be part of it .

How Is ThisBook Unique?

There is no book like this one in the business rulespace. Its uniqueness is that no one personwrote it. It is a true anthology of experiences,successes and of disappointments, but full ofpractical guidance, contributed by everydaypeople.

Goals of ThisBook

As the first book in the series, the goals of thisbook are to:

Expose the practicality of the Business RulesApproach through successes in major

organizations


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Bring business and information technology

professionals together

Present the achievements from a BusinessRules Approach for both business andinformation technology

Who WroteThis Book?

Most of the people who wrote this book are notprofessional writers, teachers or speakers,although some of them present at BusinessRules and related conferences. They are nottheorists, although some have formal educationin fields related to business rules, such as

artificial intelligence, knowledge engineering,and software engineering. Most of them dontknow each other. The one commoncharacteristic they share is their generosity indisclosing their business rule lives to you.

While only a few chapters have beencoordinated with other chapters, together theytell a true and complete story. The story has abusiness side and a technical side. These sidescome together in these pages, to be shared bybusiness and technical people. Our hope is thatit brings these people together to realize the

same business goals through business rules.

How to ReadThis Book

The book has three sections.

For both business and technical audiences,Section 1 is an introduction to business ruletopics. As such, it summarizes the current anddesired state of practitioners of the BusinessRules Approach. It explains the Rule MaturityModel (KPI RMM), where the marketplace is onthat model today, and where it wants to go. TheRule Maturity Model is a prevalent theme

throughout many of the chapters.


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4 Introduction

Section 1 also contains a pivotal chapter from

John Zachman, clarifying the concept ofEnterprise Architecture which is the applicationof traditional architecture principles to anenterprise, not merely technology. From here,Larry Goldbergs chapter presents the role ofbusiness rules in an organizations EnterpriseArchitecture.

For the business audience, Section 2 focuseson understanding business processes andinsights into the business policy maker as ruleauthor. Specifically, Neal McWhorter explainsbusiness engineering with business rules, Art

Moore and Michael Beck uncover the integrationof business process modeling and businessrules, and Larry Ward and Jordan Masangaexplain how business process management(BPM) activities improve the business (with tiesto business rules). A very special chapter fromJohn Semmel describes home-grown software,by which non-technical rule authors conceive,author, analyze, and simulate rules.

For the more technical audience, Section 3covers topics about rule architecture andtechnical rule support. Starting off, Gene Weng

and May Abraham each contribute a chapter onthe role and importance of the rule architect andrule architecture when building complex rulesystems. Brian Stucky, representing a businessrules service company called InScope Solutions,provides insights into positioning an enterprisefor business rules in terms of people, processes,and organization. It is in Section 3 that softwarevendors present technology solutions tobusiness rule opportunities. Two leadingbusiness rule management system (BRMS)vendors are highlighted in this section. James

Taylor, representing Fair Isaac Corporation,describes the use of business rule technology in


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delivering an enterprise policy hub. Linda

Nieporent, representing ILOG, presents a casestudy with Equifax as it evolved in its use ofILOGs BRMS. Both vendors and their productshave been around and evolved for severaldecades. They have much experience to shareand interesting strategic visions for the BusinessRule Revolution. Also in this section is adescription of the KPI STEP Workbench as asource rule repository supporting organizationsat Level 2 of the Rule Maturity Model.

The Open Door Hopefully, this book is the first in a long series.

We welcome new contributors and chapters. The journey begins today. Make this book, theseauthors, and this series your business rulealmanac.

Sincerely,

Barbara von HalleLarry Goldberg


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C h a p t e r

1 The Essential BusinessRule Roadmap

Barbara von Halle

What is the Business Rule

Revolution?

The Business Rule Revolution is happeningeverywhere, even if it seems invisible. In fact, thebusiness rules that are unseen or unknown areprecisely the ones that can do the most damage.Invisible rules lurk behind a lack of properbusiness rule managementcreating a

precarious business climate for these times.

Consider the growing and painful awareness ofquestionable accounting practices by somecorporate executives in some majororganizations. What is at play here? Businessrules are at playgood or bad, known orunknown. In these cases, rules were broken orsecret. Some were improper rules applied toachieve improper objectives. Think of theBusiness Rule Revolution as appropriate partiesknowing what the rules are, applying the rules in


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8 Chapter 1: The Essential Business Rule Roadmap

all the right places, and the organization

therefore taking full responsibility for its rules andits integrity.

In a nutshell, the Business Rule Revolutionrepresents an emerging undeniable need for theright people to know what a businesss rules are,to be able to change those rules on demandaccording to changing objectives, to beaccountable for those rules, and to predict asclosely as possible the impact of rule changes onthe business, its customers, its partners, itscompetition, and its regulators.

This means that the Business Rule Revolutionreflects a pent-up need for business people toplay a more prominent role in safely stewardingthe businesss rules from their inception toexecution, with probable automation. Otherwise,the business is driving in the dark, off-roadwithout headlightsan environment whereserious accidents can happen. An organizationaiming to better manage its important businessrules needs a goal, a roadmap, and a plan foraction. This is where KPIs Rule Maturity Model(KPI RMM or RMM) fits.

This chapter explains the KPI Rule MaturityModel as the essential roadmap by whichorganizations chart their course in the BusinessRule Revolution. This chapter covers:

What exactly are business rules?

What is the Business Rules Approach?

Putting the business first

What is the Rule Maturity Model?

What the Rule Maturity Model is not?

How the Rule Maturity Model is used today?


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Todays leaders: RMM levels 1, 2

Tomorrows leaders: RMM levels 3, 4, 5

The Rule Maturity Model and the changingrelationship between business and IT

What happens next-technology predictionsin the Rule Maturity Model?

Summary and future vision

What Exactly Are Business

Rules?Business Rules are the ultimate levers withwhich business management is able to guideand control the business. In fact, the businesssrules are the means by which an organizationimplements competitive strategy, promotespolicy, and complies with legal obligations.

In reality, not every business rule is worthexplicitly stating or even automating. Also, whilebusiness rule management systems (BRMS) areextremely valuable, not all business rules belong

in one. A critical aspect of a successful BusinessRules Approach, therefore, is assessing thevalue of specific business rules to the business,how often those rules need to change, howurgently the change is needed, and how muchcontrol the business people need or want overthose changes, from start to finish.

The following are examples of business rules orbusiness policies as a business person mightinitially express them:

A premium customer is every customerwhose credit rating is A or B.


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If a premium customer requests a loan for

greater than $500,000, allow a delay in thefirst payment date by 30 days.

The formula for computing a studentscumulative grade-point average is found onpage 6 of the student policy manual.

A driver should proceed in a particulardirection if the street is labeled sensounico, but can proceed in the oppositedirection without penalty unless the drivercauses an accident.

If a loan applicants outside credit rating is

marginal and the applicant also has a creditcard balance greater than $5,000, then it ishighly likely that the applicant will default ona loan.

An employee who has completed five yearsof full-time employment with the company isentitled to four weeks of paid vacation.

Stock options vest at a rate of one-third eachyear over three years.

A customer with outstanding payments duemust pay in full prior to a new order beingshipped.

A preferred customer automatically receivesfree express shipping on all orders.

These examples illustrate that there are differentkinds of business rules. Some rules imposeconstraints (constraint rules), some providesuggestions (guideline rules), some makecalculations (computation rules), some inferinterim conclusions (inferred knowledge rules),and some infer actions (action-enabler rules).


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What is the Business Rules

Approach?

There have been generations of advances inbusiness and software engineering techniquesand technology; yet, the rules of mostbusinesses remain lost, unknown, inconsistent,inadequate, or simply resistant to change. Suchrules, if crucial to business operations, are ahidden liability. Unmanaged rules result in losttime-to-market, regulation violations, andcustomer dissatisfaction: a sub-optimal runningof the business at best.

Today, the Business Rules Approach is bestdefined as a formal way of managing andautomating an organizations business rules sothat the business behaves and evolves as itsleaders intend. Organizations today apply theBusiness Rules Approach to rules carried out byhumans during the course of manual processesas well as those automated in systems.Therefore, the Business Rules Approachenables business leaders to confirm that the rightrules are guiding the business in all of the rightplaces. This becomes possible by identifying

rule-rich business processes and understandingthe importance of the rules that are to guidespecific aspects of those processes.

The Business Rules Approach includes tasks,roles, and a rule repository for business people,rules engines for automation, and formal ways ofexpressing rules so that the businesss policiesand supporting rules can be quantified,accessed, and changed as needed.

When the Business Rules Approach results inthe automation of rules in systems, often a

business rule management system (BRMS) isdeployed. Applying the Business Rules


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Approach with a BRMS builds better,

changeable systems faster than any previousapproach.1 Real-world experience proves notonly that business rule projects are completedfaster, at less cost, and with less risk, but theycontinue to deliver substantial savings in timeand money because rule maintenance issignificantly accelerated.

Putting the Business First

While the Business Rules Approach has wideapplicability, it always begins with the businessitself, specifically its goals. After all, businessrules existed long before there were computers.The Business Rules Approach recognizes thatbusiness rules are first about businessdirections, and later about databases andengines. With this perspective in mind, theBusiness Rules Approach makes possible theopportunity to manage the most important rulesof the business, no matter what kind they are orwhat kind of technology they best belong in, ifany.

This means that the adoption of the BusinessRules Approach starts by understandingbusiness objectives and letting those objectivesdrive the business rule management practicesthat are optimum for the organization or project.

To be business-centric, the Business RulesApproach requires a source rule repository. Asource rule repository provides the following:

1. von Halle, Barbara, Business Rules Applied (2002:John Wiley & Sons, New York)


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Storage of rules for the business audience, in

a central or coordinated location Access to rules by anyone who needs to

know them

Analysis of rule sets for redundancy,inconsistency, etc.

Involvement of all stakeholders in the rulechange process

Traceability to where rules are executing inthe business and its systems

Traceability of business rules to relevant

items, such as processes, use cases,decisions, business terms, data fields,stakeholders, motivations, data, and objectmodels.

Critical to the Business Rules Approach is anewly defined business rule life cycle. It startswith a business opportunity or challenge, movesthrough the articulation of policies and rules witha business focus, and may culminate inautomated rules in systems. The newly definedbusiness rule life cycle typically enables shorterchange cycles and may shift more of theresponsibility for stewarding rule changes from

technical to business people.

The optimum business rule managementpractices will enable management of underlyingbusiness rules by appropriate businessstewards, regardless of what kinds of rules theyturn out to be, what kind of rule authoringtechniques will work best, and what kinds oftechnology options might be optimal. Theoptimum business rule management practicesshould therefore be designed to fit anorganizations or projects goals and culture. This

brings us to the role of the RMM.


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What is the Rule Maturity

Model?

Essentially, the RMM is a simple and practicalmodel by which an organization aligns itsbusiness objectives with the optimum businessrule management practices for achieving thoseobjectives. It provides a straight-forwardroadmap, customizable for each organization orproject.

Like other maturity models, the RMM has sixlevels, starting from 0 and leading to 5. In a level0 organization, people are unaware thatbusiness rules have a value worthcontemplating; at level 5, organizations areutilizing business rules as proactive andpredictive levers for change and compliance, aswell as for gaining momentum over thecompetition, and predicting the future.Therefore, each RMM level represents analignment between specific organizationalobjectives and corresponding business rulemanagement practices, supported by refinedroles, techniques, and software requirements.Each level also represents a major change in an

organizations culture and its ability to reach forhigher goals. Therefore, skipping levels is notrecommended.


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At a glance, each level of the RMM represents

one major goal with respect to business rulemanagement, as depicted in Figure 1 and listedbelow:

RMM Level 1 Knowledge of Rules

RMM Level 2 Agility of Rules

RMM Level 3 Consistency and Alignmentof Rules

RMM Level 4 Prediction of Rules

RMM Level 5 Stewardship of Rules.

Figure 1: The RMM at a Glance


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What the Rule Maturity Model

is Not

The RMM is not a report card. In fact, higherRMM levels are not necessarily better than lowerones. It would be incorrect to judge organizationsor projects seeking or achieving lower levels ofthe RMM as falling short in any way. To thecontrary, applying the RMM successfully meansachieving the RMM level that delivers desiredbusiness objectives through the managing ofrelated business rules.

Figure 2 depicts more details of the RMM2, alongthree vectors. The first vector is the businessvalue which addresses the influence over rulechanges materialized by each RMM level. Thesecond vector is the technical state whichdescribes where rules reside and how they aremanaged at each level. The third vector is thebusiness control which alludes to the role ofnon-technical rule stewards and how that roleevolves at each level of the RMM.

2. The original version of the RMM is atwww.kpiusa.com/rmm.htm


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Figure 2: The RMM in More Detail

How the Rule Maturity Model

is Used Today

To date, various organizations use the RMM forone or more of four main purposes:

Assess their current state to understand

where they are today with respect tomanaging business rules. Most are at RMMLevel 0.

Define their target state to determine how farthey should go in managing business rules.Most are aiming for RMM Level 1 or 2, with afew aiming for RMM Level 3.

Certify achievement to publicize to internaland external audiences their successes asthey achieve targeted RMM levels.

Determine the business value of

incorporating the Business Rules Approachto drive the adoption of the Business Rules


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Approach by targeted business objectives

and to determine the means and metrics ofmeasuring its outcome.

Organizations using the RMM to assess currentand target states begin by identifying businessobjectives to be achieved by managing businessrules. This leads to answers to the followingquestions before determining the desired targetRMM Level:

What objectives are achievable by bettermanaging business rules?

What are the short-term and long-term

timeframes for achieving those objectives?

Which business rules are worth managing?

Who is to play which roles in managingbusiness rules? Specifically, who drivespolicies to new and changed rules fordifferent parts of the business?

Is there a need for joint stewardship for somepolicies and rules?

How will political conflicts concerning rulesbe settled?

What technology is needed to support eachof the roles?

Use of the RMM to certify achievement ofspecific RMM levels has uncovered a criticalconsideration. The RMM implies that all threevectors be managed at the same level ofmaturity. That is, there is danger in achieving anRMM Level 3 for the technical state (i.e.,delivering enterprise-worthy rule authoringsoftware, etc.) but an RMM Level 2 for thebusiness control vector (i.e., putting thattechnology into the wrong hands). Inconsistent

maturity causes unexpected, possiblydevastating havoc. An organization exhibiting


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disparate RMM levels in its business rule

management may be dysfunctional, puttinganticipated benefits in jeopardy. In fact, mostshortcomings of the Business Rules Approach inpractice can be attributed to inconsistentachievement of RMM levels across thesevectors.

Todays Leaders: RMM

Levels 1, 2

It is important to understand the culture andcapabilities of organizations at each level of theRMM in more detail. Below, each level isintroduced using Figure 1, adding the detailedexplanations forFigure 2.

Level 0:Unaware

A Level 0 organization is unaware of businessrules as being special. The rules remain hiddenand unchartered. They are buried as details inprocess descriptions, policy and proceduresmanuals, or in system designs where they arevulnerable to becoming lost and unknown and

resistant to change. As a result, no one knowswhere to start looking, where to stop, or how longit may take to find certain rules.

Even more importantly, business rules are notmanaged rigorously as strategic levers forachieving objectives. People in an organizationat RMM Level 0 carry out business transactionsoften without knowing what the rules are orwhere they are executing in business processesor automated systems. The organizationsurvives with rule changes that are difficult,time-consuming, and costly.


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Level 1:

Knowledge

A Level 1 organization wants to gain knowledge

of some of its rules. Such an organizationseparates the business rules from other kinds ofbusiness artifacts or requirement types. Toachieve this separation, a Level 1 organizationcaptures the rules in a simple manner on aproject-by-project basis, often involving onlyminimal investment in new software andorganizational roles. Typically, rules are capturedas free-form rule statements, stored indocuments, spreadsheets, simple extensions tomodeling or requirements tools, or a relationaldatabase that has room for rule-relatedmetadata. Business people know where to find

the documented rules and are, therefore, able tofind out where those rules are executing in thebusiness processes and systems. This minimaltraceability can lead to a shorter change cyclethan is likely at Level 0, where the rules remainburied.

At Level 1, because rules are separated simplybut without a lot of rigor, they take on thecharacteristics of a new kind of non-rigorousbusiness or system requirement. Therefore, aswith other kinds of requirements, typically inLevel 1 organizations, business analysts

interview business experts about objectives,requirements, and source documents. Thebusiness analysts (with some technical skills)write the rules but technical people are stillneeded to produce automated rules. Thebusiness experts provide input and review theoutput, but do not play the direct role of creatingthe rule statements for the source rule repository.

As such, a Level 1 organization does not applymuch rigor in its Business Rules Approach. Trueagility is in its infancy at Level 1, which is why

most organizations aim for Level 2.


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Level 2: Agility A Level 2 organization aims for agility in its

business rules; thus, it seeks more rigor incapturing and managing them. A Level 2organization not only separates the rules fromother business and technical assets; it does sowith a well-defined rule authoring process. Thisprocess starts with authoring rules or changingrules, gaining business approval for them,analyzing them, testing them, and putting theminto production (if automated). Structuredmethods, parsed rule syntax or intelligentparsers, and manual analysis of rule groups (forcorrectness, completeness, etc.) are possible. ALevel 2 organization or project is well-positioned

to take advantage of BRMS deployment becauserules are expressed in a more rigorous form,closer to that needed for automation and forautomated rule analysis (available throughBRMS). To achieve maximum agility, a Level 2organization requires traceability from changingrules to other business and system artifacts.Thus, Level 2 requires separation andtraceability of business rules to support businessand technical agility.

Organizations aiming for Level 2 store theserules in a more sophisticated source rule

repository, used by business and technicalpeople. The source rule repository also capturesstandard terms and related reusable ruleclauses, enabling more robust rule reporting andanalysis. Rule related roles are defined.Project-level rule stewardship exists. Typically, aBRMS is used for some automated rules.

The transition to Level 2 involves adding theauthoring, validating, and analyzing of rules withan underlying semantic model. In some Level 2organizations, business analysts who are not so

technically oriented may author thebusiness-friendly form of a rule, especially if the


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source rule repository is one that is easy to use.

Still, technically-oriented business analystsusually write the more formal form whiletechnical people convert these into anautomated form. The responsibility for creatingbusiness rules is shared by business analystsand technical people.

Tomorrows Leaders: RMM

Levels 3, 4, 5

Level 3:Consistency

and Alignment

An organization aiming for RMM Level 3 seeksconsistencyamong its rules and alignmentofthem to current and changing objectives.Therefore, an RMM Level 3 organization seeksbusiness rule governance across projects,systems, and perhaps business unit boundaries.

Such an organization identifies business-drivenbenefits for standardizing or sharing businessrule techniques and even automated businessrule services across projects. These

organizations typically establish a BusinessRules Center of Excellence that endorses astandard business rules methodology.Sometimes multiple BRMSs are deployed, andcommon business rules techniques, standards,and roles are shared across BRMSs, whenappropriate.

The transition to RMM Level 3 is extremelysignificant as it means cross-organizational rulegovernance as well as more sophisticatedsource rule repository support. It impliesorganizational change and collaboration, and

brings with it some of the greatest business rulebenefits.


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Level 3 introduces automated rule analysis and

simulation capabilities. This means that thetranslation from the business-friendly form to anexecutable version is either prompted byintelligent software or automatic in some manner.In this environment, business analysts or evenbusiness experts are able to author, change, andtest rules without relying on technical people tobridge the gap. Usually, technical people put theresulting rules in production.

Level 4:Predictions

An organization at RMM Level 4 sees businessrules as predictions for future success.

Business people or analysts hypothesize aboutfuture events to which they wish to respond in acarefully pre-calculated manner. Businessleaders or analysts craft different rule sets, test,simulate and compare predictions, and havethese rule sets ready-and-waiting for deploymentin anticipation of related threats andopportunities. These people craft business rulesto react to such events and predict the businessimpact of rule changes on the client base,revenue, profit, and staff levels.

Level 4 opens up a whole new world. A Level 4

organization supports a variety of tools forcapturing and analyzing rules and with metricsagainst which desired impact of rules on thebusiness are managed. Business analysts orbusiness experts define their destination viametrics and then interactively craft the rules bywhich they hope to arrive there. With tools andmetrics at hand, business analysts or businessexperts can now proceed confidently fromunderstanding future business objectives tosimulating rules within a future context. Again,usually technical people put such rules intoproduction, when needed.


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Level 5:

Stewardship

An organization aiming at RMM Level 5

embraces the full stewardship of business rulesfor refining and re-inventing itself as necessary.The difference between Level 4 and 5 is thatLevel 4 aims at immediate or short-term futures,whereas Level 5 looks to a variety of longer-termfutures. It represents a world of anticipation andplanned reaction while hitting the ultimate goal ofagility. A Level 5 organization is not satisfied injust being fast, but plans on being first. A Level 5organization defines various futures as theorganizations wishes them to play out beforethey happen!


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The characteristics of each level of the RMM are

summarized below.

Table 1: Culture and Capabilities for Each

RMM Level

RMM

Level

Use of Rules Primary Goal

of RMM Level

Comments

1 Re-orient or Re-discover

(existing rules)

Knowledgeof Rules

Rules in business language

Rules tied to process models or use cases

Rules traced to systems implementation

Rules stored in spreadsheets

2 Re-act

(to change)

Agility of Rules Rules in formal form possibly with rule

authoring software

Glossary of terms tied to rules Rules analyzable

Standard rule reports

Source rule repository with extensivetraceability of rules to rule metadata,

process models, object models, etc

Rules in agile technology (BRMS)

3 Re-align

(with objectives)

Consistency

and Alignment

of Rules

Rule sets assigned to business metrics

Rule sets shared as services across

processes and systems

Business Rules Center of Excellence

established

Possibly more than one BRMS

Standard methodology, templates, etc

4 Re-envision(short-term

futures)

Future

Predictions

with Rules

Potential events identified

Potential rules simulated

Revenue, profit, people differences

estimated

Rules recast according to analysis

5 Re-invent

(longer-term

future)

Full

Stewardship

with Rules

Rule stewards identified

Fast, first to define and respond

Ever-changing organization


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The Rule Maturity Model and

the Changing Relationshipbetween Business and IT

Each higher level of the RMM, because there ismore rigor in the methods and moresophistication in the software, offers theopportunity to re-shape the relationship betweenbusiness and technical people. To understandhow this relationship can evolve, lets firstunderstand the basics of the business rule lifecycle, which can provide a much shorter changecycle.

The concept of a business rule life cycle is newand it applies to all RMM Levels, except Level 0.In fact, for RMM Levels 1 through 5, the businessrule life cycle is much the same. It usuallyconsists of the following tasks or activities:

1. Document business objectives orrequirements initially or requiring change.

2. Document business policies supporting theobjective or requirement.

3. Identify source materials for underlying rules.

4. Discover and author rules in simple,business-friendly, natural language form (withglossary).

5. Author, validate, and analyze rules in rigorous,formal form with a semantic model of theunderlying glossary.

6. Automate and test rules.

7. Simulate rules within a context.

8. Put rules into production. A very significant difference among RMM Levelsinvolves the role of business versus technicalpeople in the business rule life cycle. At higherRMM Levels, businesspeople are able to carry


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out more of the steps in the business rule life

cycle because there are methods, standards,and software that enable them to do so withminimal technical support.

What Happens

Next-Technology Predictions

in the Rule Maturity Model?

The incremental methodology and technologyrequirements for each level of the RMM arebecoming well-known and widely accepted.Practitioners use the RMM to prepare for futuretechnology advancements. Software vendorsuse the RMM to deliver on the promise of theBusiness Rules Approach.

Most recent advances include the interest in andaddition of some business rule managementsupport for non-technical users to BRMSproducts. Another important trend is that ofEnterprise Decision Management (EDM), whichtakes advantage of BRMS technology and

sometimes analytical models to improveoperational decisions. Per Cutter Consortium3,EDM should be considered as a way to extendyour organization's DW (data warehousing) andBI (business intelligence) capabilities byautomating decisions through the use ofrule-based systems and analytic modelingtechniques."

For more insights into current technology trendsand visions, see Chapter 15.

3. Hall, Curt, Enterprise Decision Management: Busi-ness Intelligence Advisory Service, Executive Reportvolume 5, No. 6, Cutter Consortium


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Summary and Future Vision

The RMM is a tested roadmap by whichorganizations set realistic business ruleexpectations and design a practical roadmap forgetting there. The RMM keeps an organizationgrounded in a step-by-step Business RulesApproach that is customized to target businessobjectives. As such, the RMM is a guide formatching desired or required business benefitsto the appropriate amount of investment inmanaging business rules. The RMM assists indefining the first steps in getting started whilekeeping a longer-term vision in sight.

Through the RMM, the vision of the BusinessRules Approach will be realized:

To enable business leadership to take control

of the guiding levers of the enterprise, and

enable technology to match the rate of

business change.

References

1. von Halle, Barbara, Business Rules Applied(2002: John Wiley & Sons, New York)

2. Hall, Curt, Enterprise Decision Management:Business Intelligence Advisory Service,Executive Report volume 5, No. 6, CutterConsortium


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A u t h o r s

Contributing Authors

Contributors of this edition of the Business RuleRevolution, in alphabetical order, are:

May Abraham is the founder of a managementconsulting firm, Global Knowledge Architects,focused on helping companies manage andimplement their core business knowledge using

a Business Rules Approach and structuredmethodologies. May is a senior Knowledgemanager and has more than fifteen years ofexperience in the knowledge management areasincluding business rules, geographic informationsystems, business analytics and decisionsupport systems. In her former job at AIG asDirector, knowledge management, she guidedmany strategic business rules projects and hassuccessfully established enterprise widemethodologies and implementations. May has aMasters degree in Mathematics from AnnamalaiUniversity, India.

Michael Beck is President of OrganizationSolutions Inc., and a business executive andsenior management consultant with overtwenty-five years experience in both consultingand line management in commercial andgovernment positions. His broad experienceincludes strategic planning, businessreengineering; requirements development andmanagement, business rules methodology, andmanagement process development. Michael hasapplied his knowledge and experience to the

modernization of tax administration systems inboth federal and state governments.


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30 Authors

Larry Goldberg is Managing Partner of

Knowledge Partners, Inc., specializing inbusiness strategy and architecture. Larry hasover thirty years of experience inentrepreneurship on three continentsAfrica,Europe and North America. In the last twentythree years his focus has been in creatingrules-based technologies and applications. Hehas sponsored and played a primaryarchitectural role in Business RulesManagement Systems, and businessrules-based commercial software applications inhealthcare, supply chain, property and casualtyinsurance, and taxation regulation. Prior to

joining Knowledge Partners, Inc. in 2005 asManaging Partner, he sold his company,PowerFlex Software, to Sapiens Americas, Inc.,in 1999, becoming a Senior Vice President ofSapiens.

Barbara von Halle is the Founder and ManagingPartner of Knowledge Partners Inc. As arecognized leader in todays Business RulesApproach, Barbara led the development of thebest-selling Business Rules methodology book(Business Rules Applied, 2002: John Wiley &Sons), the KPI STEP licensed product of

Business Rules Management methods andtools, the KPI RMM, and a proven approach forexcavating rules from code. As a Business Rulespioneer, Barbara received the OutstandingIndividual Achievement Award from theInternational Data Management Association.She has earned a bachelors degree inmathematics and an masters degree incomputer science with an electrical engineeringfocus.

Neal McWhorter is a Principal at Enterprise

Agility. Neal helps organizations transform theirbusiness goals into business solutions. He has


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worked with numerous large organizations to

help them realize their goals of achieving greaterbusiness agility by helping them adopt abusiness engineering approach. The EnterpriseAgility Business Engineering approach allows anorganization's business process and rules tobridge the business/IT divide and become theactual implementation on which the businessoperates.

Jordan Masanga is IT Quality AssuranceManager and Technology Officer of OregonPublic Employees Retirement System (OPERS).Jordan has directed OPERS in implementing QA

best practices, IBM Rational Unified Process(RUP), business process managementinitiatives, and automated workflow for overthree years. He has over eighteen yearsexperience in information and high technology,specifically software development and systemsintegration. He was previously a Vice Presidentand Director of Engineering, Quality and Processof ADC Telecommunications, where he manageda division with five distributed internationaloffices.

Art Moore is a Managing Partner of Clear

Systems LLC. Art has over twenty years of ITexperience, from systems development to ITstrategic planning and practice management. Hehas focused extensively on assisting largeprojects and organizations to establish andintegrate business rule-related systemspecification and development methods,technology, and management tools andprocesses in their total business systemsdevelopment and management context. Mr.Moore is a co-author of Barbara von Halles lastbook, Business Rules Applied(2002: John Wiley

& Sons).


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32 Authors

Linda Nieporent isBRMS Product Manager at

ILOG, Inc. Linda has over ten years of ITexperience, the last six focused on businessrules, both from a business user perspective andan IT implementation perspective. Ms. Nieporentis a co-author of Barbara von Halles last book,Business Rules Applied (2002: John Wiley &Sons). As an active proponent of business rulespractices, she has written articles and presentedon business rules-related topics at user groupsand industry conferences.

John Semmel is Designer and Developer ofRating and Quoting Applications at Aetna. John

has spent more than twenty-eight years in IT, thelast ten at Aetna where he spent four yearsworking with business rules. He also spentseveral years at EDS on a team that developeda mainframe-based, rules-driven rating andunderwriting application in the late 1980s toearly 1990s.

Brian Stucky isVice President of Business RuleSolutions at InScope Solutions, Inc. Brian hasnearly two decades of experience designing andimplementing business rule systems and directsthe companys business rule practice area. Prior

to joining InScope Solutions, Brian served as theEnterprise Rule Steward at Freddie Mac wherehe set the business and technology strategy forbusiness rule development across thecorporation. Brian also co-founded twocompanies that specialized in the design andimplementation of intelligent systems.

James Taylor is Vice President of EnterpriseDecision Management (EDM) at Fair IsaacCorporation. James is widely recognized as aleading proponent of the Enterprise Decision

Management approach that uses business rulesand predictive analytics to deliver excellence in


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operational decision making. James has

experience in all aspects of softwaredevelopment. He previously worked at a start-up,in PeopleSofts R&D group and at Ernst andYoung. He writes and speaks extensively onEDM and is often quoted and interviewed.

Gene Weng is Business Rule Lead in a majorAmerican financial service company. Gene alsoworked as an IT architect for Perot Systems. Heholds a master's degree in mathematics from theUniversity of Science and Technology, Beijing,and a master's degree in computer science fromthe University of Oregon.

Larry Ward is Quality Assurance ProjectManager at Oregon Public EmployeesRetirement Systems. Larry has over forty yearsexperience in systems analysis and design,industrial engineering, and QA, including overten years Business Rules Approach experience.He is working on a major systems conversionproject that implements BPM at OPERS anduses the OPERS Business Rules Approach.Larry designed the process to apply a BusinessRules Approach at OPERS and was the projectcoordinator for five years; he managed IBM

Rational RequisitePro and ClearCasedatabase repositories, requirements, andcontent for over five years, and assisted indeveloping tools and processes to update therule databases. He has earned a bachelorsdegree in business and management, a mastersdegree in management, and a Juris Doctordegree.

John A. Zachman is CEO of Zachman Institutefor Framework Advancement, Chairman of theBoard of Zachman Framework Associates, and

operator of Zachman International. John iswell-known as the originator of the Framework


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34 Authors

for Enterprise Architecture which has received

broad acceptance around the world as anintegrative framework, or periodic table," ofdescriptive representations for Enterprises. He isalso known for his early contributions to IBMsInformation Strategy methodology (BusinessSystems Planning) as well as to their executiveteam planning techniques (Intensive Planning).John serves on the Executive Council forInformation Management and Technology of theUnited States General Accounting Office. He is aFellow for the College of Business Administrationof the University of North Texas; he serves on theAdvisory Board for the Data Resource

Management Program at the University ofWashington and on the Advisory Board of theData Administration Management AssociationInternational (DAMA-I), from whom he won the2002 Lifetime Achievement Award. He wasawarded the 2004 Oakland University AppliedTechnology in Business (ATIB) Award for ISExcellence and Innovation. He is the author ofthe eBook The Zachman Framework forEnterprise Architecture: A Primer on Enterprise

Engineering and Manufacturing.


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