Who's Changing the Rules?

Computerworld - Business rules are becoming unruly, as frequent changes in the marketplace and new regulations create more complexity. Some companies are turning to business rules management software, which organizes the process of implementing code changes and even lets business people make those changes, freeing up IT to work on more strategic initiatives.
While that sounds like good news for hard-pressed IT departments, there are potential dangers to letting business managers and other nontechnical people tinker with the insides of key information systems.
Business rules are the business logic built into systems. They describe core policies and operations and define what can and can't be done for processes such as marketing, sales, distribution or billing. A company's marketing strategy, pricing plan and administrative policies are examples of processes that include business rules.
Rules management software is changing the way companies handle revisions to the rules inside applications. Bob Parker, an analyst at AMR Research Inc., says enabling business people to make rules changes gives companies more flexibility. For example, he says, if an air-conditioner manufacturer wants to reconfigure its product design, pricing or service, the company doesn't have to rely on IT to make the business rules changes, because a manufacturing or salesperson can do it. "You not only free up IT resources, you gain flexibility to respond to changes faster," Parker says. "It's been a big hurdle for companies to change rules in response to market conditions."
CitiStreet in Quincy, Mass., a global benefits services provider owned by Citigroup and State Street Corp., is using JRules from Ilog Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., to make rules changes in its benefits plan administration system. The proprietary application runs on Sun Solaris and HP-UX platforms.
JRules manages thousands of business rules related to client policies, government regulations and customer preferences. Previously, business analysts wrote requirements, designers created documents based on the requirements, and IT developers did the coding. But now analysts use JRules to create or change rules, without help from developers, says Andy Marsh, CitiStreet's CIO. "We've effectively eliminated the detail design function and 80% of the development function," says Marsh. IT is involved in managing the systems and platforms, but it's less involved in rules management, he says.
The software helps speed processes. For example, it used to take CitiStreet six months to set up benefit plan calculations for clients; it now takes three months, says Marsh.
CitiStreet can also react more quickly to market changes and new regulations. It has used the software to accommodate changes in pension and 401(k) programs