After having imported the ‘BPMBAL Samples’
process application, open it in IBM Process Designer by clicking on ‘Open in
Designer’
Click on the Business Process Diagram named
‘Int_LaptopOrder_EditAndFile’ listed on the right hand side.
In the BPD, we have already added a decision
node named ‘Examine Laptop Order’, which was created using the activity wizard.
Therefore the task type and its available input and output data sets are
already created. We have as well connected the task to the other BPMN objects
in the BPD, and the decision gateway will evaluate the result of the decision
node to either branch to the ‘Validate Order’ subprocess, or not.
However missing for sure is the BAL rule
implementation – and therefore the decision service itself.
In this exercise you will create the BAL rule
working on the task’s input and output data set to define under what conditions
a manager approval of the laptop order is required.
Double click on the decision node to open its
implementation, and select the variables tab.
The BAL rule will investigate combinations of
the ‘Order’ business data set, and then define whether the
OrderProcessing.OrderManagerApprovalRequired variable is set to ‘true’ or
‘false’. For sure, this depends on the variable values of the laptop order
itself, specified in editing the laptop order.
Save your changes.
Now switch to the diagram tab
Because we want to create a BAL Rule, delete
the existing ‘Rule’ node from the diagram, and drag and drop a ‘BAL Rule’ node
from the palette between the Start and the End nodes.
Name the new BAL rule ‘Examination’, and wire
it to the Start and End node. Now, click the decision tab.
The BAL rule editor opens.
We want to specify the following rules
requiring management approval:
- Whenever
a non-IBM Thinkpad is ordered, manager approval is required
- Whenever
an IBM Thinkpad is ordered no manager approval is required
- No
matter what laptop is ordered, if the order total price is more than 1000,
manager approval is required
- Whenever
more than nine laptops are ordered, no matter what vendor or what process,
manager approval is required
- Specify
the customer discount factor depending on the number of laptops ordered
In all other cases, the manager does not need
to approve the order.
Let’s see what needs to be done to specify
these rules, beginning with the first rule.
Click on ‘condition’, and in the upcoming
dialog select ‘the order item name of <an order>:
On the next selection panel, select ‘Order’:
On the next selection panel, select ‘does not
contain <a string>
On the next selection panel, select ‘string’
Then in the BAL Rule in between the “” enter
IBM
This completes the condition. Next we are
specifying the action.
Click on action, then select ‘make it <a
Boolean> that <an order processing> is order manager approval
required’
On the next selection panel, select ‘true’
On the next selection panel, select ‘that
<an order processing>’
On the next selection panel, select
‘OrderProcessing’
On the next selection panel, select ‘is order
manager approval required’
Finally select to end the rule with a ‘;’,
and your rule will look like that:
Now, repeat almost the same steps, but this
time define that if the string ‘IBM’ is included in the OrderItemName, that no
management approval is required.
First, you need to add a new empty BAL rule.
Click on the little ‘+’ sign at the top right corner of the editor:
When done, there are two BAL rules, and they
look like that:
Now, add a third rule defining that all
laptop orders need to be approved by management if the order total price is
more than 1000. When done, there is a third rule:
Now, add a forth rule defining that for all
orders coming with at least 10 management approval is required. Because
Order.OrderItemNrOfPieces is a string (instead of e.g. an integer), we use a
trick here to count the number of characters of that string. If the number of
strings is ‘1’, than there are less than 10 items ordered, if the number of
characters of that string is more than 1, than more than 9 laptops are ordered,
and than we want the manager to approve the order.
When done, there is a forth rule:
By
the way: Rules leading to the sample action can as well be put together
and combined using 'And' or 'Or' statements. For the sake of this
exercise we will build rules with simple clauses only.
Next is to set the order customer discount
factor to 0.3 if ten or more laptops are order, and to 0.1 if less than 10
laptops are ordered.
Perform the following steps to create the
first rule:
First add a new empty rule.
To get started, click on <condition>,
then on the next selection panel, select ‘the length of <a string>
On the next selection panel, select ‘the
order item nr of pieces of <an order>’
On the next selection panel, select ‘Order’
On the next selection panel, select ‘is more
than <a number>’
On the next selection panel, select
‘<number>’
When done enter ‘1’ as number (which then
means that there are less than 10 items ordered).
Next define the action. Click on
<action>, then on the next selection panel, select ‘set the order
customer discount factor of <an order> to <a number>’
On the next selection panel, select ‘Order’
On the next selection panel, select ‘<number>’
When done, enter ‘0.3’ as the number, which
is the value of the process variable.
Finally, the BAL rule looks like that:
The next rule to set the order customer
discount factor to 0.1 if less than 10 laptops are ordered is done similarly.
When done, there are two additional rules:
This completes the built it yourself section.
There should be the following six BAL rules
defined, here’s a summary:
- if the order item name of Order
does not contain "IBM" then make it true
that OrderProcessing is order manager
approval required ; - Meaning that only laptops from IBM do not require
management approval
- if the order item name of Order
contains "IBM" then make it false
that OrderProcessing is order manager
approval required ; - Meaning that only laptops from IBM do not require
management approval
- if the order total price of Order
is more than 1000 then make it true
that OrderProcessing is order manager
approval required ; - Meaning that all orders which come with more 1000 require
management approval
- if the length of the order item nr of pieces of Order is more than 1 then make it true
that OrderProcessing is order manager
approval required ; - Meaning that all orders which come with more 9 items
require management approval
- if the length of the order item nr of pieces of Order is more than 1 then
set the order customer discount factor of Order
to 0.3; - Meaning that all orders which come
with more 9 items have a discount factor of 0.3
- if the length of the order item nr of pieces of Order equals 1 then
set the order customer discount factor of Order
to 0.1; - Meaning that all orders which come
with less than 10 items have a discount factor of 0.1
You can think about additional rules, and
simply create them here in the editor.
You will probably agree, that defining BAL
rules is easy to understand, the trick simply is to know what rules you need,
and to understand the decision node’s input and output data set, as the terms
used when defining the rules is directly bound to the names of the variables
used in the input and output data sets.
By the way: All the BAL rules defined here in
IBM Process Designer can be reused in IBM WebSphere ILOG jRules, once you
find out that more business rules management capabilities are required within
your organization. The editor used in IBM Process Designer, as well as the rule
engine at runtime are directly encapsulated from the IBM WebSphere ILOG jRules
rules engine, and everything done in IBM Process Designer with respect to
decision services (as shown here) can be reused in IBM’s Business Rules
Management offering.
You can export
those rules by clicking on the export icon on the upper right side of the
editor:
The export
procedure produces a complete business rules project suitable for continued
work within JRules. After exporting the rules, importing into Rule Studio, and
deploying the rules on a Rule Execution Server, the business process in IBM Process Designer can consume the resulting rule
application using a remote decision service provided by JRules.
IBM WebSphere
ILOG jRules offers to do much more with respect to business rules compared to
what’s provided here in IBM Process Designer. One key feature for example is to
change rules, rule sets and rule variables at runtime. For example one could
change that management approval is only required for laptop orders which have a
total order price of more than 2000, compared to 1000 as defined here in the
sample. In IBM WebSphere ILOG jRules you can perform changes like from a rule
console, without having to touch the BPD. Here in IBM Process Designer, changes
like that need to be done in the tool, and therefore to the BPD.
This is it! Move on to the run the sample section.