Business Rules Applied [Paperback]

I have now implemented many of the ideas and techniques from the book and placed my business rules project on a road to success. My project has endured many obstacles, not the least of which is understanding the differences that are imposed on the project team from traditional re-engineering efforts. If I hadn't come across Barbara's excellent documentation on project scoping, rules discovery, and designing for the business rules approach, I would have seriously doubted our ability to implement the project successfully. My project team was able to read and comprehend the most important concepts from the book and we have been able to modify our project plan to incorporate her ideas and techniques.

I believe it is our responsibility as IT professionals to recognize the importance of the business rules movement and to follow a strict methodology when implementing any rules engine initiative. I must personally thank Barbara for sharing some of the most important concepts with this methodology. I honestly consider it my blueprint for success.

This book expands Morgan's work by drilling down into details and exposing the nuances that a seasoned practitioner will appreciate. However, the main value of this book is the way Ms. von Halle steps you through the complexities of implementing business rules as an organizational methodology. This is not an easy task, but she manages to provide a complete and comprehensive approach that will guarantee success if carefully followed. I think the work breakdown structure alone that is provided in the book makes it essential to anyone who is tasked with implementing business rules.

In addition, the tables, checklists and documents and information from the book's web site add even more value. This is an important book about an important topic. It's not easy to read, but the diligent reader (assuming prior experience) will find everything he or she needs to know about business rules, the value proposition for using them, and how to implement them. It's the most authoritative book on the subject, and will probably remain so for years to come.

My principle criticism of the text is that the first half of the book has been poorly edited and is almost impossible to read. There are many sloppy sentences, grammar errors and redundant constructions. Because this topic is important to me I took several weeks slogging through the book to adsorb the materials I needed. This should have taken much less time.

The book takes a very strong relational database approach to the mapping of terms constraints and facts. If fact, a substantial portion of the book is devoted to recycled relational data modeling and for some reason this part of the book is more flowing and eloquent. The text's arguments are weakest when the author presents a poor understanding of current object technology. For instance, there is no discussion of patterns and many of the declarations of the limitation of Object Technology are uninformed. I would suggest that those with OOSE orientation overlook this bias. There is some good material for OO practitioners.

There are two competing views in the business rules camps. One view is that business rules presents and solid requirements gathering technique. The next view is that business rules are all about application generation. The first technique has spawned software product that 'listen' to the data in the database in a 'rules engine'. Barbara Van Halle describes these tools. Eloquent presents the second view.

In summary, if you are seriously considering the addition of business rules methods to your project or organization then buy and read this book otherwise wait for a second edition.