Business Rules are the rules that define your business. A Business Rule is often a constraint or a description of an operation within your business.
A Business Rule must be atomic --> being able to be either true or false
According to the Business Rule Group (http://www.businessrulesgroup.org)
business rules can be one of the following types:
- Definitions of business terms
- Facts
- Constraints
- Derivations
Definitions of business terms are often gathered and documented in a glossary and/or Domain Model. Rules build on facts so facts in itself is not that interesting.
In the context of requirements management using use cases the business rules are the constraints related to your use case steps or your business process actions – it is as simple as that.
Those business rules related to your use case steps or business process actions will often be of the following types (in real world wording):
Limitations
- For example: Only two pieces of luggage per passenger is allowed
Validation Rules
- For example: Transferring account is not possible if the account is created after 1/1/1980
Permissions
- For example: Account details must be visible for Gold members only
Evaluation
- For example: If the order sum is higher than €4000 the customer is granted a4% discount
Process rule
- For example: If the door lock has been activated the “Occupied” sign must be switched on.
Notice some rules of thumb:
Process rules are often present in business processes - and often represented in business process diagrams using decision shapes
Use case steps are often related to Limitation rules, Validation rules, and/or Evaluation rules
Use Case steps in the user swimlane are often related to Permission rules
Business Rules can relate to physical objects as well to non-physical objects – of course when dealing with software development you are primarily interested in non-physical business rules.
Business Rule examples:
- When buying for more than €400 the shipping is free
- After 25.000 km the train must be checked for errors
- If an employee works more than 160,33 hours in a month all hours worked must be compensated with additional €1 per hour
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