IBM WebSphere ILOG Business Rule Management Systems (ILOG BRMS) Frequently Asked Questions

IBM ILOG BRMS product experts answer a variety of questions from this series.

About IBM's Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS’s)

• What types of rules does a typical rule engine provide?

What ILOG BRMS Offers

• Versions

• Is there a performance difference between file-based rule persistence and database persistence? Which one is recommended?

• Integration with Other Products

• Can IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules (ILOG JRules) interface with business process management software (BPMS) programs that run on Microsoft Sharepoint?

How to Use ILOG JRules?

• General Questions
  - Business Object Model (BOM), XOM and Vocabulary

• Can we know the business object from the process model, or can it help in defining a BOM?

• Writing Rules

• Can I use a pre-defined range (for example, between 13-34) for valid values?
• Can temporary rules be used for a period of time?

- Business Rule Template

• Is there a way to convert Java code (e.g, if-then statements) automatically into ILOG JRules?

• Storing and Sharing Rules
  - Deployment

• Is it possible to have an ILOG JRules rules execution server (RES) cluster? What would be typical scenarios for it?
• If I change a rule on ILOG JRules RES, will it be reflected on the rules independent development environment (IDE) when I access it later? How does it work?
• Are criteria other than the date possible with ILOG JRules?

• Orchestrating Rule Execution
  - Can we push new rules on runtime

• Is it possible to have an ILOG JRules RES cluster? What would be typical scenarios for it?
• By changing a rule on RES, does it reflect on the rules IDE when we access later and how does the synchronizations happen?
• If I change a rule on ILOG JRules RES, will it be reflected on the rules independent development environment (IDE) when I access it later? How does it work?
• How does the Java code call the rule(s) in the RES?
• What protocol is used from a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) app to ILOG JRules RES, assuming it is on another box?
• Is there a difference between file-persistent and database-transaction support?
• Is there a log or trace that shows which rules were fired in ILOG JRules RES other than "Test Ruleset?"
• Where can I find more information?

What types of rules does a typical rule engine provide?

ILOG JRules provides multiple types of rule representation through easy to use point-and-click graphical editing tools that are available either as part of a developers desktop development environment or from within a Web browser for non-technical business users.

Rule representations include:

• Natural language-like business rules in an “if-then” format

• Decision tables

• Decision trees

• Scorecards

• Rule flows

• Rule templates

If I change a rule on ILOG JRules RES, will it be reflected on the rules independent development environment (IDE) when I access it later? How does it work?
The ILOG JRules RES console is the management interface for seeing what has been deployed to RES. The RES console can be viewed from within the rule IDE.

Can we know the business object from the process model, or can it help in defining a business object model (BOM)?
The business object model is distinct and separate from the process model. The process model describes the flow of human- and system-based activities and, depending on the modeling product being used, can also contain technical aspects of those activities (which could be object-oriented) for use by a business process management (BPM) engine.

ILOG JRules uses a BOM which is a translation layer that allows you to author business rules in a way that is understandable for both technical and non-technical business users within your organization, while also ensuring that rules are defined in a way that is understandable by the associated rule-based application.

The second session of this series provides more information about creating business object models.

There are several important reasons for separating business processes and rules, such as:

• Multiple processes and applications may need to use the rules

• Business rules typically change more frequently than processes

• The definition of business decisions can involve a large number of conditions and interrelations between related rules

For these reasons, it is important to use a business rule management system (BRMS) such as ILOG JRules for managing rules. ILOG JRules gives you the ability to easily integrate with different BPM suites, creating a powerful and agile solution.

Can we push new rules at runtime ? How
Yes. The webinar shows how to deploy new rules into the runtime execution environment. It is called “hot deployment” of the business rules into ILOG JRules RES.

Is it possible to have an ILOG JRules RES cluster? What would be typical scenarios for it?
ILOG JRules RES can be deployed onto clustered J2EE environments. It leverages the J2EE application server cluster for increased throughput and processing.

Can ILOG JRules interface with business process management software (BPMS) programs that run on Microsoft Sharepoint?
ILOG JRules and IBM WebSphere ILOG Rules for .NET can interface with BPMS programs on a variety of platforms. ILOG Rules for .NET can use Microsoft Sharepoint to manage and shares rules across your organization.

Can temporary rules be used for a period of time?
Rules can have expiration dates, allowing them to be effective for a specified period of time.

Is there a log or trace that shows which rules were fired in ILOG JRules RES other than "Test Ruleset?"
As you can see in the RES information window, rule execution data can be logged at different levels of detail.

Can I use a pre-defined range (for example, between 13-34) for valid values?
Yes. One of the business rules shown in the webinar uses the following phrase:
if
the age of the driver is less than 18
then
reject this application.

This phrase could have read like the following:
if
the age of the driver is between 13 and 34
then
reject this application.

Is there a difference between file-persistent and database-transaction support?
There is no difference between the two. The persistent store for the ILOG JRules RES is the place where it saves the various versions of RuleApps. Transaction support does not come into play at this level.

Is there a performance difference between file-based rule persistence and database persistence? Which one is recommended?
File-based persistence and database persistence are offered as convenient options for customers who have a strong preference of one over the other. There is really no reason to pick one over the other based on performance.

How do the various rule servers interface with an external server or database?
Business rules communicate with databases using standards-based protocols such as Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Java Persistence API (JPA) and Hibernate.

Are criteria other than the date possible with ILOG JRules?
Yes. Rule deployment and selection mechanisms can filter many criteria.

Is there a way to convert Java code (e.g, if-then statements) automatically into ILOG JRules?
ILOG JRules can leverage existing Java code by having the business rules themselves call the existing Java code. In cases where you truly want to re-engineer existing Java code into ILOG JRules, there are automated tools and application programming interface (API)-based approaches for taking existing code artifacts, data artifacts and other structured artifacts and converting them into generated ILOG JRules business rule artifacts. Re-engineering existing Java code into business friendly business rules often requires an iterative approach, and often results in refactoring (and ultimately greatly simplifying) the readability and maintainability of the business logic.

Due to the difference in the conceptual representation of business logic (i.e. Java representation is “functional programming” whereas business rules are “declarative programming”) re-engineering usually involves manual processes.

How does the Java code call the rule(s) in the RES?
In the specific webinar example (the car quote example), the Web based application invoked the business rules via a Web service.

At the beginning of the demonstration, we talked briefly about how ILOG JRules RES can be deployed on J2EE servers, and can be integrated through Web services as well as other J2EE integration approaches such as: stateful and stateless session beans, local and remote beans, and message-driven beans. RES can also run as Plain Old Java Objects ( POJOs). The POJO approach would be appropriate for a standalone or Tomcat-hosted RES. There are cases when it may be more desirable to code directly to the rule engine through APIs (a very rich set of APIs is available for rule execution and many other areas). ILOG JRules also has the ability run the rules defined in Java-based environments within a .NET- or COBOL-based engine.

What protocol is used from a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) app to ILOG RES, assuming it is on another box?
The application server manages the protocol. The protocol used from a J2EE client to RES is the same as the protocol used by the underlying application server. This is typically TCP/IP, HTTP, or SSL.