Business Rules Management with Visual Rulesdocumentation.bosch-si.com/brm/8_0/pdf/en/VR... ·...

Business Rules Management

with Visual Ruleswww.bosch-si.com/bpm-brm

http://www.bosch-si.com/bpm-brm

Bosch Software Innovations

Bosch Software Innovations GmbH | INST/MKC | 08/01/2018

© Bosch Software Innovations GmbH 2018. All rights reserved, also regarding any disposal, exploitation, reproduction, editing, distribution as well as in the event of applications for industrial property rights.2

Your technology and solution provider for BRM and BPM

Started projects

500+satisfied customers, including Amway,

DHL, REWE, Fiducia & GAD IT AG and

thyssenkrupp Steel Europe

Globally successful

15+ years

Years of experience

1 provider

Comprehensive portfolio

20+ scenarios

Diverse applications

in areas such as data analytics and data processing, e.g.

I4.0 machine data, decision management, invoice validation,

product configuration, fraud detection

of experience in planning, implementing, and realizing a

range of BRM and BPM projects

to cover the entire business process

and business rules lifecycle

Benefits of Visual Rules



Intuitive modeling. Agile rules. Smart decisions.

Transparence

Business logic is documented in form of rules which are stored central, versioned and changes are tracked.

Changeability

Can be modified quickly if constraints (e.g. laws) have changed.

Intuitiveness

Business experts can define their rules without IT support.

Separates concerns of business & IT

Both areas gain independence and increased productivity.

Simplicity & testability

Procedural modeling of the business workflows in visual, stateless rules. These allow easy unit tests and tracing.

Stability & performance

Stable and high-performant execution due to encapsulation in rules and automated code generation, build, and deployment.

Visual Rules



Business applications challenge business and IT

IT specialist Application

Chased by business:

Has to build a new

application versions

Translates requirements

into code

Depends on IT:

Has to request changes

via requirements

Can’t verify that

requirements are met

Application:

Black box for business

Hard to change

Needs to be tested after

changesBusiness expert

Requirements

Visual Rules



Separation of responsibility and lifecycle of software and rules

IT specialist Application

Enabled to:

Keep application stable

Focus on technology

• define data types

• access systems & data

• write rule expressions

Enabled to:

Own business logic

• define flow rule

• define decision table

Write acceptance tests

Trace decisions

Extracts the business logic:

documented

changeable (hot-swap)

versioned

tested automatically

Business expert

Separates responsibilities

and lifecycle:

Rules (Business)

Application (IT)

Business rules

Visual Rules



Business and IT alignment

ITBusiness

Focus on business aspects

Own business logic

Fast, easy changes

Focus on technical aspects

Viable specs from business

Less maintenance efforts

Define, test, and document rules

Trace decisions

Analyze statistics

Define architecture

System integration

Operate business applications

Clear

responsibilities

Automated

toolchain

Objectives

Tasks

More flexibility Lower costs Higher quality

Visual

Rules

Visual

Rules

Visual Rules



Support from conception to execution

Modeler

Modeling, testing, documentation generation,

debugging, analysis, optimization

Team

Collaboration, versioning, change history

Build

Build, automated testing, deployment

Execution

Rule execution, web services,

execution statistics

The Visual Rules Modeler supports:

interlinked views, search and navigation

content assist and validation

change history and comparison

refactoring and much more

Rules define input and output data

Decision tables are a compact form of simple rules

Applicable if

few input data

straight-forward mapping

Option to import data from Excel into the Visual Rules

Modeler as a decision table

Visual Rules Modeler



Intuitive modeling of rules as decision tables




Intuitive modeling of rules as flow rules

A unique visual approach for modeling similar to the

programming flow chart

Intuitive – even for highly complex specialist logic and

without any knowledge of programming

A two-step process:

First, structure and description is modeled

Then, conditions and calculations are added

Decision process is highly transparent, because it is

explicitly modeled, not implicitly given

Comprehensive documentation at the click of a button

visual rule

data model

dependencies and usage matrix

Defined test cases for specific input data and

expected results

Run tests immediately to debug the decision-

making

Automatically executed tests during build to roll out

only rules which are accepted

Highlighting of deviations from expected result

Procedural and stateless modeling approach to

ensure that unit tests of rules are sufficient for

validation of correctness




Acceptance testing of rules

Visual Rules Server: Team and Build



Build, test and deploy rules with speed

Multiple authors can modify rule models at the same

time as well as control of access rights

Scheduled builds, automatically build after changes or

manual trigger builds on demand

Rules are stored in the central repository for

management and versioning, testing, and

documentation

Visual comparison and merging of different versions at

the click of a button

Role-based authorization process

Automated deployment to execution environments and

repositories

Visual Rules Execution Platform



Execution of rules in high-speed and visualized performance

Hot-swap capability allows rule deployment without

downtime

Smooth rule version updates and rollback through

multiple version support

Makes rules available for the business application in

form of:

SOAP or RESTful web services

Hot-swap capable Execution Core Java API

Java libraries

High performant rule execution in milliseconds range

Cloud-ready, with recipe for Amazon Web Services and

Bosch IoT Cloud

Horizontally scalable in a cluster or cloud

Visual Rules Server



Supervise rule execution and utilization

Monitoring of the utilization and performance of the

Visual Rules Server during operations

Welcome page for an utilization overview

rule executions over time

top rules being executed

uptime, memory usage, deployed libraries

Metrics are exposed in several formats:

JMX

REST & Prometheus

Graphite

Create your individual Grafana operations dashboard

Visual Rules



Track execution statistics and drill-down to individual decisions

Record runtime statistics during rule execution in the

Execution Platform

on various levels from switched-off to high

Statistics displayed in the Visual Rules Modeler

individual rule executions to track decisions

per request to track statistical distribution

processing times

percentages

Graphical debugging allows to track decisions step-by-

step

Insights for optimization:

identify performance issues

optimize rule structure and decision order

Visual Rules



Architecture

Gateway

Registry

Business

servicesinubit BPM

Business

application

Execution Core Runtime

Business

application

Business

applicationDatabases

Client

Server

Modeler Administration UI

Team Build Execution

Repositories

Collaboration

Source repository

Tagging

Building

Testing

Deployment

Rule services

Rule execution

Rule

editor

Test /

simulation

Data types

extensions

Statistics /

analysisVisual Rules

Server UI

Authentication

system

Visual Rules Toolchain



Interplay of powerful tools and components

Visual Rules

Modeler

Simple for the

business, powerful

for the IT expert

Visual Rules

Server (Team)

Empowers the

business expert

Visual Rules

Server (Build)

Automated

rollout

Visual Rules

Execution Platform

Flexible

execution

Intuitive graphical modeling

Integrated test management, simulation and visual debugging

Extendable with own data types, functions, actions, services, etc.

Powerful Java & XSD integration for the IT expert

Enables simultaneous editing of rule models within a team

Central repository and documentation

Revision save versioning and change history

User- and team-based access control

Trigger builds by schedule, automatically after changes or on demand

Automated code generation, build acceptance testing, and publishing of rules

No downtime through hot deployment

Multiple concurrent rule versions allow rollback and staged version update

Integrate rules in the application as web services or via Java API

High-performant rule execution

Visual Rules



High degree of scalability, more profitability

High setup flexibility

Authentication system

Supports on premise-, cluster-, Docker- and cloud

Multitenancy capability

Cloud-ready and dynamically scalable Execution Platform

Transparency, flexibility,

and audit capabilities

Central documentation of business logic

Easy changes with change history and versioning

Traceable decisions and statistical analysis

Development costs cut up to 50%

and up to 90% for maintenance

Business can change rules by themselves

IT has less code change requests, releases, and test effort

Automated build, regression tests, and deployment


with Visual Rules – Referenceswww.bosch-si.com/bpm-brm


One software – numerous applications – globally successful



Visual Rules at thyssenkrupp Steel Europe

“thyssenkrupp Steel Europe was facing the challenge of

gradually phasing out the models it had programmed itself

to manufacture various types of steel and replacing them

with a single, future-ready software solution. Thanks to the

graphical rules modeling offered by Visual Rules,

thyssenkrupp now possesses an agile, flexible solution for

the production of quality steel.”

thyssenkrupp Steel Europe

thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG



Rule-based production of various grades of steel

Customer benefits

Optimized, flexible steel production

New shared communication platform for steel engineers

and IT staff

Project details

One of the global technology leaders in the manufacture of

quality sheet-steel products

8.86 billion in sales (2013/14) and some 27,000 employees

Gradual phase-out of old, self-programmed rule-based models

Looking for a future-ready technology solution

Simple integration without limiting functionality




Visual Rules at DHL Global Mail

“Instead of 2,000 lines of spaghetti code, we have now implemented the

USPS price catalogue using readable models the content of which is

validated by experts. We now have a thorough knowledge of the rules

implemented and can quickly make any necessary changes.”

Robert Werner

DHL Global Mail

Deutsche Post DHL (US)



Tariff & logistics optimization down to the last mile

Customer benefits

Software makes it easy to make changes – for instance to

contracts or to the customer & logistics infrastructure

Maximizes benefit from highest discount rates

Continuous optimization of margins

Project details

Leading mail & logistics group

1 million client contacts / hour

> 470,000 employees worldwide

Modeling of US Postal Service’s discount system

(last mile monopoly)

Rule-based mail routing & sorting




Visual Rules at Fiducia & GAD IT AG

“Thanks to the processes we have implemented so far using inubit

BPM and Visual Rules, we have been able to make enormous savings

– the average process time has been reduced by 45 minutes. Given a

global sum of 300,000 processes at our customers, that means a time

saving of more than 25,000 work days a year.”

Gerd Müller

Head of Architecture & Innovation

Fiducia & GAD IT AG




Visual Rules at the REWE Group

“Because of the varying requirements of the

individual divisions, there is a need for specialist

modifications in various areas of the sales

operation when implementing the mobile inventory

application. Thanks to the underlying rules model,

this can be done without great outlay of time and

resources.”Thomas Friedl

REWE Group

REWE Group: Carrier management



Logistics project using Visual Rules

Customer benefits

Transparent mapping of all process steps makes it possible

to accurately track errors in the sequence

Minimizes clearing and goodwill efforts

Reduces manual checking by 75%

Project details

REWE leads the European market

Sales 2012: 49.7 billion euros

> 15,000 stores worldwide

RFID- and barcode-supported identification of expensive freeze

containers

Rule-based assessment of cargo carrier movements and

automatic posting

Green Charge Networks (U.S.): GridSynergy™



Optimization of supply grid

Customer benefits

Improves utilization of available energy resources to

reduce spikes in demand

Reduces investment and operating costs for energy

suppliers

Automates calculation of requirements and supply

of energy to the grid

Project details

Innovative energy supply partner

Partner of the U.S. Department of Energy

Focus on grid reliability

Real-time status updates, analysis of grid components right

down to individual power feeds and transformers

Visual representation for reducing load with decisions and

recommendations


with Visual Rules – Use Caseswww.bosch-si.com/bpm-brm


Product configuratorManaging product variants without programming

Existing situation:

Web-based product configurator

Business logic programmed into the web client

Daily alterations to product variants force IT department to make

modifications to the web application

Increasing complexity leading to performance and maintenance

issues in the web client

Benefits

A lean and effective web UI

IT department no longer has to modify the web UI on a daily basis

Specialist departments can see the business logic and make changes

themselves (even daily), automatically test these changes and put

them to productive use

Departments gain new insights thanks to execution statistics

Solution

Business logic converted into visual rules

Web UI acts solely as a visualization

Rules govern web UI backend

Every time a user clicks on the web UI, it triggers a rule call to

determine the remaining options, which are then relayed to the web

UI

28 Bosch Software Innovations GmbH | INST/MKC | 08/01/2018

© Bosch Software Innovations GmbH 2018. All rights reserved, also regarding any disposal, exploitation, reproduction, editing, distribution as well as in the event of applications for industrial property rights.

Validating invoicesAutomated validation: Visual Rules as an assistance system

Existing situation:

Manual verification costly and time consuming

Administration staff’s time bound up in repetitive work steps

Process slowed down by susceptibility to error

General work procedures subject to frequent changes

Benefits

General work procedures easily mapped and adapted within Visual

Rules

Fully automated verification based on consistent, objectively defined

rules

Reduced process costs thanks to decreased administration workload

Administration staff able to focus on complete and already verified

invoices

Solution

Visual Rules acts as an assistance system for processing clerks

Rules are modeled to check for completeness

Invoices automatically validated using Visual Rules

Administration staff able to view analysis results at the end of the

process



Legal validation:Implementing regulatory changes quickly and dependably

Existing situation:

Products developed on the basis of the current legal situation

Legal restrictions often not adequately tracked

Time-consuming manual research and assessment required when

there are changes to the law

Risk of non-compliance in all aspects of the product

Solution

Laws are mapped centrally within Visual Rules and kept up to date

Rules are rolled out and automatically evaluated using Visual Rules

as an assistance system

Benefits

Consistent, objective evaluation

Seamless change history for audit purposes

Reduced risk of non-compliant products



Formula changes (steel, pharma, manufacturing,...)Automated modification of production specifications

Existing situation:

No central programming/availability of formula rules

Time and expense to implement formula modifications in

applications

Uncertain availability of formulae in document systems

Benefits

Increased quality thanks to scenario-based testing

Experts are able to create and modify formula rules using graphical

modeling

Clear division of duties between department experts and IT

Documentation of formulae

SOA compatibility of Visual Rules

Solution

Rules and formula-based know-how automated and systematically

secured using Visual Rules

Rapid access to database content and availability of standard

interfaces

Automated generation of production specifications



Export regulationFast, reliable verification of export transactions

Existing situation:

Significant demands placed on the export company

Checks against export lists, German War Weapons Control Act,

final destination countries, black lists, etc

High personnel costs for export companies and logistics service

providers as a result of the number of inspection procedures

Benefits

Automated, cost-efficient verification for standard tasks

Experts free to concentrate on problem cases

Quality and efficiency in standard processes is maintained

Experts able to modify rules modelswithout the need for IT specialists

in the event of any changes to export regulations

Solution

Export regulations visually mapped within Visual Rules

Rules used to automatically validate data and verify work processes



Management of alerts and status reportsAutomatically monitoring statuses and reliably reporting errors

Existing situation:

Complexity of connected production chains calls for early warning

e.g. in case of bottlenecks

Critical importance of definition, mapping, and compliance with set

escalation procedures

Benefits

Fast and qualified response to notifications

Consistent compliance with escalation procedures

Transparent report tracking and audit capability

Solution

Visual modeling of dependencies, alarm triggers and notifications,

as well as escalation procedures

Automated evaluation of trigger signals and data within Visual

Rules

Defined escalation procedures and triggering of notifications/alarms

by Visual Rules depending on factors such as time of incident,

availability, release limits etc. using defined media such as e-mail

ticket systems



Seed recommendationsRules-based yield maximization in the agricultural sector

Existing situation:

Selection/composition of seeds critical to a harvest’s business

success

Constant modifications undertaken due to new research findings,

newly approved varieties, new funding regulation, etc

Seed recommendation dependent on the knowledge level of

various experts

Benefits

Experts able to take the complex interdependencies of seed

recommendations and describe them in comprehensible rules that

they modify themselves

Seed recommendation process documented and automatically

replicated within the software

Rules model draws on expertise of numerous experts, and

subsequently provides a fully automated customer advisory service

Solution

Formalization of complex interdependencies and expert knowledge

in rules models within Visual Rules

Complexity can be broken down into several rules within Visual

Rules, making them both comprehensible and manageable

Visual Rules combines a wide range of data sources including

databases and meteorological systems



Predictive maintenance for tractorsAn efficient collaboration between engineers and programmers

Existing situation:

Tractor engine predictive maintenance software project failed

because engineers and software developers were speaking

different languages

Software developers were implementing the engineers’ requests in

programming code that the engineers could not understand

There were always new tweaks being made along with additional

factors that led to an inefficient collaboration along the dependency

chain: Experts > Requirement > Programmers > Software

Benefits

Visual Rules creates a common language for engineers and IT

specialists, allowing them to work directly alongside one another

Engineers can take complex interdependencies and directly formalize

them as rules that can be developed further

Solution

Expert knowledge is translated into a Visual Rules rules model

extracted from programming code

Expert knowledge is presented as rules which engineers can easily

examine, test, and develop further

Rules models automatically evaluate and analyze engine data

Service personnel and customers are given early warning of

potential failures and recommended repairs



Predictive maintenance in manufacturingProactive maintenance avoids production standstill

Existing situation:

Production lines brought to a standstill due to the failure of

individual machining centers

Diversified machine park supplying various data streams

Desire for comprehensive automated monitoring of machines and

evaluation of data in order to trigger a prompt response and avoid

expensive downtime

Benefits

Comprehensive monitoring of diversified machine park

Transparent documentation of expert knowledge

Rules easily modified to current production conditions

Reduction in (unscheduled) downtime

Reduced maintenance costs thanks to targeted intervention by

service technicians before damage / high levels of wear occurs

Solution

Data from the various machines collated and harmonized within

Visual Rules

Production workers and process experts formalize their expertise as

rules

Machine data automatically analyzed by Visual Rules

Service technicians notified of any potential disruptions via a

ticketing system

Ticket describes indicated problem, probability, and suggested

solution36 Bosch Software Innovations GmbH | INST/MKC | 08/01/2018


Verification of benefit entitlements for health insurance policiesAutomated plausibility checks for medical bills

Existing situation:

Large number of claims made from health insurers in the form of

medical bills

Extensive time required by insurance personnel to validate data,

check settlement rates, and verify entitlements

Insurers keen to reduce the manual work involved while still being

able to detect any fraudulent claims

Benefits

Automated validation / processing of standard claims

Staff free to concentrate on conspicuous bills

High rate of detection of incorrect claims

Consistently high processing quality at reduced costs

Solution

Data validation rules mapped within Visual Rules

Medical bills verified for plausibility within Visual Rules on the basis

of rules models, such as what claims can be made for given

services, standard hospital stay for specific operations



Damage claims managementAutomated control of damage claims

Existing situation:

Extensive time required by personnel to validate damage reports

and resulting entitlements

Insurers keen to reduce the manual work involved while still being

able to detect any fraudulent damage claims

Benefits

Automated verification of standard damage claims wile

maintaining high quality of claims processing

Staff free to concentrate on conspicuous claims

Shorter processing times and reduced process costs

Solution

Data validation rules mapped within Visual Rules

Rules models are used to examine damage reports for

completeness and plausibility in respect of specific data

Damage reports automatically evaluated and passed on to the most

suitable staff specialist



Bonus and remuneration systemsCompensating employees using rules-based remuneration systemsExisting situation:

Employee evaluation and compensation is an extremely individual

matter, and variable in the criteria applied

Standard software unsuitable for personalized evaluations

Logic for personalized evaluation must be easy for the customer to

model and adapt

Benefits

Visual modeling allows HR departments to model frequent changes

without needing to handle highly complex and highly automated

billing software themselves

Flexibility and department independence from IT cuts costs

Fairest possible remuneration of performance

Solution

Rules models within Visual Rules depict individual aspects of

employee evaluation

Department can easily modify and personalize the evaluation within

Visual Rules

Automated calculation of individual bonus and employee payments



Approval processesRules-based processing of applications

Existing situation:

Organizations have to deal with a whole array of applications and

authorization processes

A lot of staff time wasted on repetitive tasks devoted to the review

and approval of valid applications

Desire to cut processing time and process costs

Benefits

Cost savings thanks to high data quality and efficient / automated

authorization processes

All data required for processing checked for plausibility, saving on

queries

Staff members spend their time on more valuable activities, and on

tricky cases

Solution

Rules that harmonize and validate application data are stored within

Visual Rules

Visual Rules acts as an assistance system, automatically evaluating

requests and even approving them itself

Problematic requests forwarded on to the most suitable staff

specialist

Department can easily modify rules to fit other approval processes



Robotic Process AutomationSimple automation and modification of repetitive tasks

Existing situation:

Business transactions often involve detailed information, and a

complex process of review and approval

It is extremely time consuming to check and harmonize this data,

which may apply to different certification standards, for example,

and the work is prone to error

Employees are faced with repetitive tasks

Desire to cut costs and relieve staff from repetitive activities

Benefits

Expensive staff time is only used where it yields maximum benefit

Reduced costs per business transaction

Consistently high process quality

Frees staff from dull, repetitive tasks and increases employee

satisfaction

Solution

Staff specialists use Visual Rules to define, modify, test, and

document rules to automate upstream process steps such as data

validation and data standardization

Visual Rules acts as an automated assistance system and aids in

decision making

Data sets are all fully tested and standardized before being passed

on to the specialist user with the right know-how and free capacity



Score cardTransparent and comparable scoring

Existing situation:

Business decisions rely on a host of qualitative and quantitative

contributing factors

These contributing factors are collated into score cards for scoring

Time consuming for experts to assess, and risk of subjective

evaluations

Benefits

Experts can quickly modify and optimize evaluation criteria and how

they fit together

Automated, consistently objective evaluation by Visual Rules

Qualitatively superior evaluations lead to better and faster decisions

Reduced costs per scoring / decision

Solution

Resembling the use of score cards, experts use Visual Rules to

define assessment criteria and their interaction

Visual Rules inputs contributing factors into an automatic

assessment, feeding back the results to the expert



Customer Relationship ManagementOptimized customer segmentation and campaigns

Existing situation:

Optimized customer segmentation is crucial to the success of

companies with a large customer base

Marketing campaigns tend to be expensive and time-consuming

Desire for specialist department to be able to refine customer

segmentation and have more control over campaign success

Benefits

Simulation, analysis and optimization prior to sending allows for more

targeted customer selection and campaigns

Reduced costs and greater campaign success

Transparent performance measurements

Solution

Marketing department uses Visual Rules to define rules for

customer segmentation within campaigns

Rules-based customer segmentation is tested, analyzed, and

optimized by the marketing department based on real customer

data



Product recommendationsThe best product to satisfy customers’ needs

Existing situation:

Some industries, the smartphone sector for instance, offer a variety

of products that is overwhelming for both salespeople and the

customer

This makes it extremely tricky to provide good quality advice, not

least because product development cycles are so short

Training staff is expensive and time consuming, and the margins in

sales are very low

Benefits

Consistent quality of advice across the board

Happier customers with higher referral rates and customer retention

Reduced sales costs

Solution

A small number of experts use Visual Rules to define questions that

capture customer preferences and the extent to which these

preferences are met by given features

All of the products in the catalog are centrally managed to track

which of their features fulfill a given preference

This provides a centrally managed advisory tool that can

recommend products to satisfy specific customer requirements on

the basis of actual expert knowledge



Air Quality IndexRules-based air quality monitoring

Existing situation:

The air quality index is a number used by government agencies to

communicate the air quality in specific cities

While the index is always calculated on the basis of the same set of

factors, the interpretation in terms of health risks can vary greatly

from place to place

Different sensors supply different data formats

Varying, sometimes subjective assessments of risks to health for

countries, cities, and private citizens

Benefits

Precompiled rules calculate the air quality index extremely effectively,

and Visual Rules offers a highly scalable solution

Customers can modify the evaluation of health risks for themselves

Solution

Fully automated, centralized calculation of air quality index and

evaluation of health risks

Rules translate data from different sensors into a standardized data

format

Rules-based calculation of the air quality index allows for

transparent, testable automation

Customers use predefined or self developed rules to evaluate

health risks



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