Abstract: In recent years we have seen the rise of a new type of software called business rule management systems (BRMS). These are systems to externalize business rules and to provide a facility for centralized business rule management. This addresses an urgent need businesses do have nowadays: to change their business rules in order to adapt to a rapidly business environment, and to overcome the restricting nature of slow IT change cycles.

“What do you find most difficult about modeling?” I was asked this question while walking briskly to my Data Modeling Workshop at the Boston TDWI World Conference this last August. Not an easy question to answer … especially before a strong cup of coffee. I went through in my mind my 10-step approach to building a logical design, and after some thought replied, “Correctly capturing the business rules”. Later that day I gave additional thought to this reply, thinking about where the difficulty might lie.