Introduction

- For this sample you need to have IBM Business Process Manager v7.5 -

In Business Process Management, when we want to automate business processes, we are seeking for service implementations for identified business activities. Among all the various steps identified during business process modeling, some tasks may be implemented by business rules. Those tasks in IBM Business Process Manager are called Decision tasks, and their implementations are called decision services.



These decision tasks are conform with the task type ‘decision node’ identified in the BPMN 20 standard. The combination of Business Process Management and Business Rules Management is very powerful: Business rules are expected to be changed more often than the process rules defined at the gateways used in the business process models. It is therefore smarter to externalize the business rules to be able to change them without having to change the business process itself.

IBM Business Process Manager includes decision tasks allowing for designing business rules based in the data available to the business processes. The result of the business rules can then be further used at process gateways for process navigation.

This sample explains to some level of detail how to make use of decision services using so-called BAL (Business Action Language) rules when designing business processes. The BAL Rule component provides a rule editor that allows rule designers to author business rules using natural language technology. Using natural language, instead of JavaScript, to author rules means that no programming expertise is required to create business rules, and the rules are easier for people to read and understand.

This is very powerful, especially because in BPM we want process authors not to specify business conditions at gateways but to use business rules for decision making. In IBM Business Process Manager, business rules are included when using decision tasks. The BAL rules used here are very well known from IBM WebSphere ILOG jRules, which is IBM’s Business Rules Management offering.

Objectives

After completing the sample, you should be able to: