Business Rules Management System (BRMS): What You Need to Know

Business Rules

Business rules establish how an application should function under specified conditions. They define the logic behind how the application should behave and are often expressed as when-then statements. In general, business rules comprise two parts: (i) condition and (ii) action. A condition is the specific circumstances that determine the actions. The action is the response to a situation and the first step in the decision-making process. 

For instance, an online store may have a rule that requires customers to enter their credit card details to pass a validation check before processing to avoid fraud and ensure security. A movie streaming application may have business rules stating that users must be above 18 to access certain mature content.

What is a Business Rules Management System (BRMS)?

A business rules management system is a technological solution that helps in defining, deploying, executing, monitoring, and managing business rules and decision logic. 

BRMS are digital spaces that offer space for space to manage, automate, and store your business rules. They offer a digital environment where users can create business rules as well as optimize their existing rules based on certain logical conditions. But the best part is its automation. Business rules management platforms are capable of automating the rules and integrating with related software and services as required. 

Business rules management systems offer users options to manage the business rules using a single interface throughout the organization. These systems manage to simplify rule actualization and deployment with their easy cloud deployment or on-premise deployment options. Their basic principle is – “create once, and deploy anywhere.”

How does a Business Rules Management System (BRMS)work?

Any business rules management system includes a definitive set of components that can perform seamless automation in executing the rules. The following are its key components:

Development environment

This is where your business rules will be created and automated. The BRMs offer low-code/no-code development tools that can be used by both technical and non-technical users. The users will use this space to write codes, validate rules, and express conditional formatting using logic qualifiers such as IF-ELSE, IF-THEN, WHEN, ONLY IF, etc, and many other functionalities.

Users can express business rules in terms of decision tables that are useful when more than one condition influences the action.  Moreover, a no-code business rules management system like Cflow comes with an automatic rule-testing functionality that allows users to test the formal logic to see how it works in the specific condition before actually deploying it. 

Repository

A database infrastructure that stores and manages the data from your business rules. This is the BRMS’s central repository that can be given access permissions to specific people who can view, edit, review, and share the business rules that can be accessed using different applications and integrated into your business cloud. 

Runtime environment

The runtime environment comprises the business rules engine. The rules engine is the software component that allows other ERP tools to access the central repository to execute the rules in a runtime environment. This software component is responsible for automated decision-making. 

Here is how it works: a request will be sent from your integrated apps to the BRMS containing all the relevant information needed for making a decision. This is checked against the business rules stored in the central repository. Now the rules engine checks and returns a decision based on formal business logic. Finally, the returned decision will trigger the application to perform a specific action.

Advantages of Business Rules Management System BRMS

The main advantage would be continuous improvement – BRMS helps your business to be more goal-oriented and enhances performance and competitiveness. However, processes should be managed, executed, and transformed in such a way that the flow is regulated.

In addition, business rules management systems can influence your business in several dimensions – ease of use, automation, integration, connectivity, scalability, etc. 

• Business rules management systems offer low code/no code functionality that makes it easier to use especially for non-technical users. Basic visual development training would be enough to handle such platforms. This reduces the dependency on the IT team for deploying the platform and speeds up the integration process. BRMS offers more customization and flexibility. 
• Automation is the key to surviving in today’s highly competitive business world. BRMS can automatically execute the rules which enables informed decision-making and reduces manual processing thereby helping employees to focus on more critical tasks. 
• As mentioned above, automation eliminates human error. They follow the business rule scripts precisely once deployed and there is no place for mistakes due to fatigue or loss of focus. This compliance precision is essential for financial services, hospitals, etc.
•  You can have consistent outcomes as the business decisions are automated and are followed throughout the enterprise according to the same logic that you set. Therefore, your business decisions will not be influenced by humans except when there is absolute necessity. 
• Better security and management as all the business rules are stored and accessed from a single central database. All the other enterprise apps will be connected to the database which eliminates creating business rules for each one separately. This ensures consistency and continuous improvement as it follows the same logic over and over.  
• Excellent compliance as you can automate them and regulate the compliance checks periodically. It automates the daunting task of making decisions on multiple regulations.

A Practical Use Case of BRMS – Insurance

There are many examples of business rules management systems across different industries but insurance is one of the major industries that leverages the benefits of BRMS. 

Insurance businesses need to determine whether a potential customer is eligible for a specific scheme. Moreover, before approving insurance the process undergoes several stages such as regulatory checks, risk assessment, credibility, compliance checks, etc. Using a BRMS would simplify the overall process and improve overall efficiency.  

In addition, insurance can be of different types – automobile, home, health, and life which operate in multiple dimensions. Each of its products has its unique set of processes – underwriting, pricing, eligibility, and other regulatory compliance. BRMS enables insurance companies to update their business rules and associated data to comply with the new market regulations effortlessly in the future.

Implementing BRMS in insurance streamlines the processes and makes it more agile. It optimizes different aspects such as:

• You can write business rules specifically to manage underwriting rules for each insurance product. 
  • The rules include factors such as age, location, occupation, health status, and other eligibility criteria. 
  • When a request is received, the BRMS checks the data against the predefined rules in the central database and determines whether the applicant is eligible for further review. 
• The pricing guidelines can be codified using BRMS as it involves complex algorithms. 
  • It can be set based on market changes, risk assessment, claims history, and compliance. 
  • BRMS dynamically optimizes the pricing with changes in the market and other factors ensuring profitability. 
• BRMS facilitates the definition and management of eligibility rules that are predefined with respect to different insurance products. 
  • When a customer shows interest in taking up a policy, their profile will be checked by BRMS against the predefined rules and provide personalized customer experience. 
• Compliance regulation is a daunting task for any business but using a BRMS can simplify it. 
  • You can encode regulatory guidelines to automate the decision-making. 
  • When it needs to be updated BRMS automatically does it ensuring all business decisions remain compliant with the updated guidelines thereby avoiding legal issues. 
• Throughout the lifecycle, insurance policies are governed by factors such as endorsements, cancellations, and renewals. 
  • These are different business rules that comprise policy administration.  
  • BRMS can automate these processes to ensure they adhere to the guidelines, reduce manual errors, provide timely policy services, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve operational efficiencies. 
• Finally, processing claims. This too can be codified in the BRMS as it can automate the claims processing that involves different factors such as claim validity, payout calculation, determination of coverage, coverage limits, claimant information, etc. BRMS prevents fraud and enhances the overall experience for policyholders in processing claims efficiently.

BRMS and BPM

You need to understand the difference between a business rules management system and business process management (BPM). Combining them would result in a powerful software solution that helps take your business to the next level. 

BRMS defines, executes, and manages business rules whereas BPM streamlines business processes and improves overall efficiency.  A BRMS does more than just execute rules and decision-making – it determines the effectiveness of business processes and the layers of automation involved.

Business Rules Management System (BRMS) Tools

A business rules management system should be able to automate business rules and decision logic across different applications within an organization, improve decision-making, maintain consistency, and provide accuracy. 

There are certain features to look for in a BRMS tool – workflow modeler, conditional logic management, embedded rules engine, reporting and analytics, integration capabilities, role-based permissions, etc. Following are some of the best BRMS that you should consider:

1. Cflow

A versatile no-code cloud-based automation solution, Cflow is one of the leading business process automation tools in the market. Cflow comes with a unique business rule engine and automation functionality that is designed to enhance organizational efficiency. It is completely no-code thereby offering easy deployment and providing a smooth transition from manual to digital automation. 

2. IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation

This is a hybrid cloud software that is designed to provide innovative solutions for operational challenges. It comes with AI-powered automation that is highly flexible and captures, content, decides, and manages workflows. The RPA essentially frees human employees and helps them focus on operational intelligence and informed decision-making. Its unique features include low-code tooling, RPA, process mining and modeling, built-in AI, performance dashboards, and flexible deployment options. 

3. Pega Platform

Pega offers a combination of RPA and BPM with an advanced analytics workforce which is highly versatile and scalable for different industries. Some of the functionalities include reporting and analytics, a process engine to build process models, collaboration tools, form builders, content management tools, custom reports, dashboards, SOA support, and cloud decision management. Pega aims to deliver an innovative model-driven approach to managing business rules that maximize efficiency and productivity. 

4. Camunda

Camunda cloud platform offers a business process modeling and notation (BPMN) workflow engine that offers horizontal scalability that is tailored for enhancing performance in specific automation use cases.  This platform is ideal for cloud-based microservices and looking for seamless collaboration. The best part is it offers an open-source SaaS platform that is easy to use and provides process modeling and execution, decision management, business activity monitoring, and scalability features. 

5. Higson

Formerly known as Hyperon is a business rules management solution that instructs enterprise software to be more agile and how to dynamically respond to changing conditions. The platform aims to provide real-time rules management that can respond in a dynamic operating environment without having to wait for changes in the software code. Higson offers a web-based business studio and configuration domain for enhancing performance. 

6. Inrule

Inrule is a decision platform offering end-to-end solutions for decision life cycle management that includes authoring, testing, storing, executing, deploying, and measuring automated logic and rules. It comes with several unique functionalities to provide better insights and make data-driven decisions. Its functionality includes irAuthor, irVerify, irCatalog, irService Rule Engine, irDistribution, and InRule Metrics. 

7. Agiloft workflow management

Agiloft is a workflow management platform that offers a fully configurable and versatile framework for managing business rules and optimizing complex business processes. The platform focuses on providing power control status to approval workflows, data validation, precise access permissions, and advanced search functionality ensuring users can use the platform effortlessly. 

8. FICO Blaze Advisor

Offers a flagship authoring solution known as FICO Score to assist businesses in making better decisions, and enhancing growth and profitability. FICO business rules management platform offers operational optimization, fraud detection, risk management, and compliance regulation, especially for financial institutions.  

BRMS and Cflow

Are you ready to get transformed? If yes, then Cflow is your best choice. Cflow is a no-code cloud-based automation solution that is embedded with tons of BRMS functionality. 

Intuitive UI

the easy-to-use interface with drag-and-drop functionality is the key strength of Cflow. It comes with tons of predefined templates and conditional components that enable users to create forms and logic flows in a single click. Since it’s no-code, users don’t require exclusive technical knowledge to use Cflow.

Customization and flexibility

Cflow is highly flexible as it provides exclusive customization based on your business needs. You can add more complex logic and optimize any kind of business process. 

Automation and integrations

Cflow is what you precisely need to optimize your business processes. It offers easy API integration that works with different third-party tools such as G Suite, Office 365, and thousands of apps that can be connected using webhooks or custom connectors.

Security and Deployment – bulletproof AWS data centers offer high-level protection to your data and the data encryption is controlled by you. Since all data is stored in the cloud, Cflow enables automated backups so you don’t need to worry about data loss.

Conclusion

The BRMS market generated a revenue of $1 billion in 2020 which was projected to reach $1.8 billion by the end of 2025. A CAGR of 11.8% was projected during the forecast period as the demand for business rules management tools showed steady growth with the changing business needs and regulations.

Therefore, BRMS aims to simplify process optimization and execute business rules effectively. Decisions made by BRMS are effective in guiding organizations to maintain consistency. 

For more information, visit Cflow and sign up for a free demo today.

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