Business Rules Engine

Today, businesses across many industries are increasingly adopting technology to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and discover new revenue streams. Among different types of software companies use, business rules engines are getting notable traction.

What is a business rules engine? How does it work? What benefits can it offer to your business? Find the answers in our article.

What is a business rules engine?

A BRE (business rules engine) is an application that automates the decision-making process with the help of predefined logic that determines outcomes ("if-then," "if-else," etc.). A business rules engine can be used independently or embedded in a business process management suite. It allows business users to define rules using decision trees, decision tables, or other representation methods.

Business rules engines enable users to determine responses to specific events or actions and trigger decisions based on predefined conditions, including cases with multiple conditions and many possible outcomes. Business rules engines help ensure that each decision aligns with regulatory requirements and company policies.

Business rules engine software is used to reduce manual data entry and streamline repetitive tasks, such as calculating revenue or checking whether eligibility requirements are met. Organizations employ business rules engines to reduce costs, make their business operations error-proof, maximize efficiency, and ensure faster time-to-market. Given that, business rules engines are used across various industries, with insurance, banking and finance, retail, human resources, logistics, and marketing dominating the pool of verticals that leverage BREs to manage business logic.

How does a business rules engine work?

Whether a business rules engine is used as a standalone application or is integrated with a business process management suite, it works as follows:

1. The engine receives a request with the data necessary to make a decision.
2. Then, it checks the request and data against predefined business rules.
3. Lastly, it returns a decision and triggers a specific action.

Let’s say you run an applicant tracking solution that processes job applications according to several business rules, for example:

• If an application passes screening, email a link to the online test. Otherwise, send a rejection message.
• If the applicant passes the test, email an invitation to a job interview with three time slots. Otherwise, send a rejection message.
• If the applicant passes the interview, email the job offer. Otherwise, send a rejection message.

Benefits of business rules engines

Besides centralizing business rules and automating the decision-making process, a business rules engine comes with a range of benefits that drive business value. Let’s take a more detailed look at them.

Consistent decision-making

A business rules engine allows you to apply the same business logic to all processes. This inevitably translates into wholly consistent decision-making, with every decision perfectly tallying with your business goals.

No need to be programming-savvy

Business rules engines let users manage business rules without writing a single line of code. As a result, non-technical staff members can define rules and effectively manage business processes without bothering the IT department

Increased business agility

Since a business rules engine allows non-technical specialists to define and update business rules without engaging IT experts, business processes have minimum downtime. Therefore, a company can promptly adjust to changes within the dynamic business environment, becoming more agile and flexible.

Maintaining compliance

A business rules engine is a must if you focus on remaining compliant with relevant regulations. It makes each business process transparent and ensures deadlines are met. A business rule engine allows for easily making necessary changes to business decisions when regulatory policies and requirements change, without the IT team involved.

Simplified business decisions

Some complex business decisions call for taking into account multiple factors and rules. Given that, embedding all of them into the code can be a rather complicated endeavor. Business rule engines come to save the day — they reduce the complexity of business decisions by separating decision logic from the code and representing it within a single framework.

Next-level productivity

It's not a secret that office staff often do repetitive, time-consuming tasks. However, these tasks can be automated with the help of a business rules engine, allowing employees to concentrate their effort on problem-solving and creative thinking, which leads to better workplace productivity.

Hassle-free testing and debugging

It's never enough to define rules — you need to test them to ensure they work properly. The good news is that most business rules engines feature intuitive visual testing and debugging, which makes introducing each new business rule quickly and easily.

Minimizing errors

Let’s face it: humans are more prone to making mistakes than machines. Investing in a business rule engine is a wise choice to make your business processes error-proof. Rule engines rely on instructions that clearly define each step, minimizing errors, making sure company policy is followed, and improving the overall quality of work.

Lower costs

Business rule automation goes a long way toward cutting down costs by minimizing manual tasks and speeding up processing times. In addition, it removes the need to hire IT specialists to manage your business rules.

Why is Code Effects better than other rules engines?

Code Effects is a fast and intuitive business rules engine trusted by governments and Fortune 500 companies around the globe. Let’s see what makes it stand out.

Revolutionary user interface

Code Effects' Rule Editor has an easy-to-use, clean user interface that doesn’t require IT skills to effectively use it.

Impressive functionality

Code Effects’ simple UI doesn't mean compromising functionality. In fact, it has more features than most rules engines on the market, such as built-in numeric calculations, in-rule methods, parentheses, reusable rules, rule templates, multiple evaluation modes, automatic rule validation, and dynamic help, just to mention a few.

Cost-efficiency

We offer several licenses, and no matter which one you choose, you’ll own it forever, regardless of the number of rules

User-centricity

Code Effects Software is the only company in the industry with a live demo page — you can use it to learn how to create a basic rule on your own, even if you are a non-tech specialist.

How we work

One of the key concepts behind developing the Code Effects business rules engine was eliminating the need for decision tables in business rules management, which can be challenging to handle without involving IT specialists. Our highly customizable Rule Editor enables end-users to read and write their rules without the need to learn programming languages.

FAQ

What are business rules?

A business rule is a statement determining or restricting actions within a company's operations. It specifies an action to be carried out when certain conditions are true or may be formulated to resolve to either true or false. Business rules can apply to people, processes, and computing systems.

What are some business rules examples?

Common examples of business rules include:

• Dynamic pricing — offering the same item or service at different price points depending on different circumstances, e.g., changing ticket prices based on the number of seats left;
• Customer discounts — offering a customer a specific discount based on specific customer data, e.g., when a customer spends a certain amount on purchases;
• Automated insurance underwriting — passing an insurance application for review if the candidate meets the eligibility criteria;
• Evaluating risk with credit scores — using customer data to approve or reject the application;
• Fraud protection — triggering authentication procedures when financial institutions detect suspicious activity;
• Lead qualification — leads can be qualified based on a set of business rules;
• Customer support service — routing support tickets to the appropriate department based on a customer’s selection.

Who uses business rules?

In general, business rules can be used everywhere where decision logic is implemented for making decisions based on data from multiple sources. Financial institutions, insurance firms, recruitment agencies, logistics companies, etc., are the most common users of business rules.

When to use business rules?

Although business rules aren’t compulsory, consider implementing them into your business process if:

• You seek to automate repetitive tasks;
• You want to improve decision-making;
• You would like your team to be more efficient and productive;
• It’s critical for your business to stay compliant;
• You’re looking for ways to reduce costs.

What is a business rules engine?

A business rules engine, or BRE, is an application that can execute business rules in a runtime production environment. Rule engines allow users to formulate rules with the help of decision trees, decision tables, pseudonatural language, etc

When to use a business rules engine?

A business rules engine is used to define, deploy, execute, monitor and manage business rules. You should invest in one if you need to manage business rules outside of code. Also, a BRE can be your way to go if you seek more flexibility in responding to changing needs and focus on staying compliant. Business rules engines automate repetitive tasks, improving productivity and eliminating errors.

Which business rules engine is the best fit for me?

If you're a BRE newbie, consider the Code Effects business rules engine. It has a highly intuitive interface that is easy to run even by non-tech users, plus a live demo with comprehensive instructions on how to use this software. In addition, the Code Effects business rules engine includes a wide variety of features that similar products on the market don't typically include.