Introduction 

 

RuleLab.Net is a Business Rules Management System (BRMS) that combines a Business Rules Engine (BRE) and an online Rules Designer that allows you to build and maintain Business Rules. It enables separation of business logic from application code and empowers non-technical business analysts to manage business logic in an integrated, Web-based environment. RuleLab.Net arms you with intuitive screens for designing the rules, as well as testing them on your data samples - all without needing to download a single module from our web site. RuleLab.Net includes a powerful online Rule Editor and Inference Engine that runs locally or via Web Service.

Who should use the RuleLab.Net   Most applications have the business logic hard coded in a programming language. Changing the business logic requires program modification by IT. Putting IT in charge of maintaining the business logic makes IT responsible for the verification of the business requirements. It creates a lot of extra work for both IT and the business department including numerous meetings, requirement reviews, coding, and validation. Not only it inflates the cost of the project – it also results into a system that lacks flexibility. Hard coded business logic disallows the modification by the business users. Therefore, it is important to isolate the pure business logic from the control logic of the project.   A close look at an application business tier may reveal that most of its logic can be implemented without a programming language. BRMS provides a solution for separating the most essential business logic into a form of standalone business rules. The rules are placed into a rule base space where business users are able to write the new rules, change the rules, and delete the rules. The IT department is responsible for integrating the application with the BRMS, for providing an easily maintainable system, and for ensuring the consistency of the rule changes.   While some of the pure business logic may seem rather simple from a programmatic standpoint, moving it into a manageable rule set requires generic features beyond the scope of your company core business. Such features include a rules designer, a business rules engine, a repository, and an interface with the rules management system. RuleLab.Net delivers all these components. The interface between RuleLab.Net and client applications is based on XML.   If you already utilize data in XML format, or can convert your data into XML, and would like to build a production rule set based on that data, then RuleLab.Net is the answer. With elements of natural language and transparent hierarchical mapping of rules to your data, the resulting application will be easy to understand. We give you simple yet very efficient method of composing your Logic into maintainable and automated form.   Integration with the BRE is not limited to .NET based systems. Any application supporting SOAP protocol can communicate with RuleLab.Net BRE. Furthermore, regardless of the hardware and software platform your system has been built on, you can still run your BRE integration module on a standalone Windows XP machine. No matter what type of database your data is stored in, you should be able to write data adaptor to export data into XML files. You can even exchange data with the BRE at file level. One of our demo samples - “RuleLabBREClient” console application – reads XML files from disk and returns the results into files as well.

Why use the RuleLab.Net

 

By using the RuleLab.Net BRE you will reduce maintenance and improve costs. No longer will you have to modify application code every time business logic changes. Your expert knowledge will be well defined and automated. You will have the ability to populate, review, and update your business rules in a graphical web environment where you can express your business rules in a format similar to natural language syntax. You can enable analysts across your company to modify the rules online by simply giving them the login to this web site.  

 

The Rules Engine will do the hard work of crunching the Conditions and Actions while your application is feeding it with runtime data. The RuleLab.Net BRE implements common principles of rule parsing while adding powerful data processing features. The engine will relieve your team from a large amount of programming that may inevitably become part of your project.

  

If you are looking for a simple, XML-based, light-weight method of defining decision making and data validation rules, then RuleLab.Net can help. We offer integrated, intuitive web tools for composing, storing, and managing your business rules. Our system enables seamless integration with your application. Our customers can create a rule database here on this web site, allow business users to manage it online, and let developers integrate the Rules through Web Service or the BRE component. We give you the ability to utilize our online rule repository and/or maintain your RuleLab.Net project files locally.

 

How to use the RuleLab.Net

 

RuleLab.Net lets you create a rule-based module without taking control over your development platform, application architecture, or data flow. Whether you are starting on a new project or enhancing an existing system, you can integrate with RuleLab.Net. From a technical perspective, you need XML support, Web Services familiarity, and interface programming. Our system does not require complex setup or installation on your machine. While we give you project tools for managing your RuleLab.Net objects online, we offer the flexibility of utilizing them at the file level.

 

With the Rules Designer GUI you can quickly build objects such as Atoms and Facts, enter Business Rules using predicates, logic, math functions, and formula-editing features. Once you have created the links between the RuleLab.Net objects and your XML data template, you are ready to test your business logic and experiment with data samples. Full integration between your application and RuleLab.Net requires Web Service or BRE component interface programming. This work should be performed by an IT developer who can create basic Atoms and Facts, do the necessary programming to interface with the BRE, and test the system using an initial rule set and data samples. S/he would then work with business analysts on building the Vocabulary and entering the rules.

 

XML is the core format of RuleLab.Net. To integrate with the RuleLab.Net, your application should provide data in an XML document that will be referenced by the RuleLab.Net BRE. You may already have an XML format against which you’d like to run a BRE, or you may decide to come up with a new schema to create an extract for interfacing with the RuleLab.Net. The BRE will process your application XML data and apply the results to your XML document upon parsing it via your rules. We don’t call you; instead your application would call us by sending messages to the BRE Web Service and receiving messages back. You remain in full control of your application workflow.

 

RuleLab.Net advantages

 

The architecture of RuleLab.Net has been designed to provide a lightweight integration with XML applications.