Rules engines get power users running
Once the exclusive domain of developers, the rules management arena may soon be opened to business users via emerging technology designed to allow nontechies to change business rules without altering code or waiting for a new application release.
Vendors are touting features such as decision tables and parameter-based forms designed to allow business analysts to change rules, often in systems that feed off real-time data such as changing financial market conditions. This rules management market is becoming crowded with a multitude of companies such as Pegasystems, Savvion, SpiritSoft, Corticon, and iLog.
“What the rules engine does is to offer the encapsulation of the rule separate from the application so you don’t have to open the code and change it,” said Nigel Thomas, director of product management at SpiritSoft in Boston.
SpiritSoft’s SpiritIntellect provides a Java-based event management framework that includes a template editor that allows nondevelopers to manipulate rules using a simple graphical interface.
Enterprises began leveraging this technology for customer service but are now using it for supply-chain management to span enterprise applications for complex functions, said Eric Austvold, an analyst at AMR Research.
“Rules management technology sits as a superstructure over enterprise apps,” Austvold said. “You coordinate processes that span functional silos across those enterprise apps.”
One key advantages to allowing business users to change rules is to lower programming costs, said Ken Molay, director of product evangelism at HNC Software, in San Diego. In addition, companies can save by eliminating errors that result from a programmer’s interpretation of rule changes, he said.
STW Fixed Income Management, in Santa Barbara, Calif., is preparing to deploy rules management software from Corticon to ensure that its traders are complying with their client investment guidelines, said Tony Plasil, STW vice president and head of technology.
Despite its potential, this technology still requires a power user, said Jim Sinur, an analyst at Gartner. In addition, the features may create additional problems, such as how changing a rule may affect others downstream, he said.
— Heather Harreld
