Defining Business Rules ~ What Are They Really? (Appendix E)

This page contains Appendix E of the paper "Defining Business Rules ~ What Are They Really?", produced by the Business Rules Group. Other formats in which this paper is available are described in Defining Business Rules -- What Are They Really? (Abstract & Table of Contents)

Defining Business Rules ~ What Are They Really?

Appendix E - Glossary

Below are the concepts defined in the Business Rules metamodel:

Action something that executes and may change the state of one or more instances of one or more Types. An Action has a protocol and one or more methods that implement it.

An Action cannot be constrained; only Types (things that have persistent instances) can be constrained. The enabling and execution of an Action can be controlled through Business Rules. An Action is permitted to proceed when and if conditions are satisfied. See Chapter5

Action Assertion a statement that concerns some dynamic aspect of the business. It specifies constraints on the results that actions can produce. See Chapter5

Action-Controlling Assertion an Action Assertion that describes what must or must not be (or happen). See Chapter5

Action-Influencing Assertion an assertion that describes what should or should not be (or happen). See Chapter5

Aggregation a specialization of Participation that expresses an "is part of / is composed of" Fact. The terms in the fact describe the component types of the whole. See Chapter 4

Association a specialization of Participation that expresses an "is associated with" Fact between two or more Types. Ideally, this "association" is described using a verb phrase that expresses the particular nature of the association. It represents any type of participation (relationship) other than aggregation or role. See Chapter 4

Attribute a specialization of Fact that expresses a "has property of relationship between Terms, specifically an association between an entity type and a domain/abstract data type. For example, "a customer has a name." See Chapter 4

Authorization an assertion that a specific prerogative or privilege has been defined with respect to one or more Constructs. It is an assertion represented the predicate: "(Only) x may do y", where x typically is a user and y is an action that may be executed. See Chapter5

Base Fact a Fact that is given in the world and stored. It is a Fact that is not a Derived Fact. See Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Business Rule a statement that defines or constrains some aspect of the business. This must be a term or fact (described below as a structural assertion), a constraint (described below as an action assertion), or a derivation. It is "atomic" in that it cannot be broken down or decomposed further into more detailed business rules. If reduced any further, there would be loss of important information about the business. See Chapter3

Business Rule Statement a declarative statement of structure or constraint that the business places upon itself or has placed upon it. See Chapter3

Business Term a word or phrase that has a specific meaning for a business in some designated context. See Chapter 4

Clock a special kind of Sensor whose value is "real-world time." A Clock must have exactly one value, which is "current time." See Chapter 4

Common Term a word or phrase in everyday language using its commonly-accepted meaning. Specifically, common terms are part of the basic vocabulary (for example, "year," "calendar," etc.) and are taken as axiomatic to avoid writing circular definitions. See Chapter 4

Condition an assertion that if something is true, another business rule will apply. It can be thought of as a "test" -- if true, it may be the basis for enforcing or testing other Action Assertions. See Chapter5

Construct a generalization that represents either a Business Rule or an Action. See Chapter5

Context an environment where shared Business Terms are used with an agreed-to meaning. See Chapter 4

Derivation an algorithm used to compute or infer a Derived Fact. See Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Derived Fact a Fact whose value is computed or inferred from other facts via a specified Derivation. In other words, it is a Fact whose value is created by an Inference or a Mathematical Calculation from Terms, Facts, other Derivations, or Action Assertions. See Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Enabler a type of Action Assertion that, if true, permits or leads to the existence of the correspondent object. The assertion is true if the anchor object exists. See Chapter5

Executive a type of Action Assertion that requires (causes) the execution of one or more Actions. See Chapter5

Fact an associating of two or more terms. It expresses a potential for association ("can be" or "may be") rather than expressing a "must be" association. See Chapter 4

Formal Expression Type one of the formal grammars for representing business rules. See Chapter3

Formal Rule Statement an expression of a business rule in a specific formal grammar. See Chapter3

Generalization a type of fact in which one term (a Type) describes a subset of occurrences of another term (also a Type). See Chapter 4

Inference a Derivation that produces a Derived Fact using logical induction (from particulars) or deduction (from general principles). See Chapter 6

Integrity Constraint an assertion that must always be true. See Chapter5

Literal a kind of term that reflects a specific value or instance of a Type. See Chapter 4

Mathematical Calculation a Derivation that produces a Derived Fact according to a specified mathematical algorithm. See Chapter 6

Object Role the semantic role that a term plays in a Fact. See Chapter 4

Participation any association between terms other than Attribute or Generalization. (This would typically appear as a relationship in an entity/relationship diagram.) See Chapter 4

Phrase one component of a text ordering that reflects the usage of an Object Role in a specific position of the Text Ordering, identifying its syntactic role and providing its portion of the text (with marker). See Chapter 4

Policy a general statement of direction for an enterprise. See Chapter3

Role a statement of the way in which one Term may serves as an actor (another Term) through its interactions with its environment. For example, "a customer may be a buyer in a contract". (or, a seller in, the recipient of, etc.) See Chapter 4

Sensor a special kind of Type whose value is asserted by some mechanism or device whose inner workings are unknown (or uninteresting to the identified scope). Its value cannot be altered directly. A sensor detects and reports constantly changing values from the outside world, such as the passage of time, a temperature reading, or some other value. See Chapter 4

Structural Assertion a statement that something of importance to the business either exists as a concept of interest or exists in relationship to another thing of interest. It details a specific, static aspect of the business, expressing things to be known or how known things fit together. See Chapter 4

Term a word or phrase used by the business. See Chapter 4

Text Ordering the portrayal of one possible wording of a Fact. It is an aggregation of its constituent phrases. See Chapter 4

Timer a type of Action Assertion that tests, enables (or disables), or creates (or deletes) if a specified threshold has been satisfied. See Chapter5

Type a named abstraction of a set of instances or values. See Chapter 4

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Action	something that executes and may change the state of one or more instances of one or more Types. An Action has a protocol and one or more methods that implement it. An Action cannot be constrained; only Types (things that have persistent instances) can be constrained. The enabling and execution of an Action can be controlled through Business Rules. An Action is permitted to proceed when and if conditions are satisfied.	See Chapter5
Action Assertion	a statement that concerns some dynamic aspect of the business. It specifies constraints on the results that actions can produce.	See Chapter5
Action-Controlling Assertion	an Action Assertion that describes what must or must not be (or happen).	See Chapter5
Action-Influencing Assertion	an assertion that describes what should or should not be (or happen).	See Chapter5
Aggregation	a specialization of Participation that expresses an "is part of / is composed of" Fact. The terms in the fact describe the component types of the whole.	See Chapter 4
Association	a specialization of Participation that expresses an "is associated with" Fact between two or more Types. Ideally, this "association" is described using a verb phrase that expresses the particular nature of the association. It represents any type of participation (relationship) other than aggregation or role.	See Chapter 4
Attribute	a specialization of Fact that expresses a "has property of relationship between Terms, specifically an association between an entity type and a domain/abstract data type. For example, "a customer has a name."	See Chapter 4
Authorization	an assertion that a specific prerogative or privilege has been defined with respect to one or more Constructs. It is an assertion represented the predicate: "(Only) x may do y", where x typically is a user and y is an action that may be executed.	See Chapter5
Base Fact	a Fact that is given in the world and stored. It is a Fact that is not a Derived Fact.	See Chapter 4, Chapter 6
Business Rule	a statement that defines or constrains some aspect of the business. This must be a term or fact (described below as a structural assertion), a constraint (described below as an action assertion), or a derivation. It is "atomic" in that it cannot be broken down or decomposed further into more detailed business rules. If reduced any further, there would be loss of important information about the business.	See Chapter3
Business Rule Statement	a declarative statement of structure or constraint that the business places upon itself or has placed upon it.	See Chapter3
Business Term	a word or phrase that has a specific meaning for a business in some designated context.	See Chapter 4
Clock	a special kind of Sensor whose value is "real-world time." A Clock must have exactly one value, which is "current time."	See Chapter 4
Common Term	a word or phrase in everyday language using its commonly-accepted meaning. Specifically, common terms are part of the basic vocabulary (for example, "year," "calendar," etc.) and are taken as axiomatic to avoid writing circular definitions.	See Chapter 4
Condition	an assertion that if something is true, another business rule will apply. It can be thought of as a "test" -- if true, it may be the basis for enforcing or testing other Action Assertions.	See Chapter5
Construct	a generalization that represents either a Business Rule or an Action.	See Chapter5
Context	an environment where shared Business Terms are used with an agreed-to meaning.	See Chapter 4
Derivation	an algorithm used to compute or infer a Derived Fact.	See Chapter 4, Chapter 6
Derived Fact	a Fact whose value is computed or inferred from other facts via a specified Derivation. In other words, it is a Fact whose value is created by an Inference or a Mathematical Calculation from Terms, Facts, other Derivations, or Action Assertions.	See Chapter 4, Chapter 6
Enabler	a type of Action Assertion that, if true, permits or leads to the existence of the correspondent object. The assertion is true if the anchor object exists.	See Chapter5
Executive	a type of Action Assertion that requires (causes) the execution of one or more Actions.	See Chapter5
Fact	an associating of two or more terms. It expresses a potential for association ("can be" or "may be") rather than expressing a "must be" association.	See Chapter 4
Formal Expression Type	one of the formal grammars for representing business rules.	See Chapter3
Formal Rule Statement	an expression of a business rule in a specific formal grammar.	See Chapter3
Generalization	a type of fact in which one term (a Type) describes a subset of occurrences of another term (also a Type).	See Chapter 4
Inference	a Derivation that produces a Derived Fact using logical induction (from particulars) or deduction (from general principles).	See Chapter 6
Integrity Constraint	an assertion that must always be true.	See Chapter5
Literal	a kind of term that reflects a specific value or instance of a Type.	See Chapter 4
Mathematical Calculation	a Derivation that produces a Derived Fact according to a specified mathematical algorithm.	See Chapter 6
Object Role	the semantic role that a term plays in a Fact.	See Chapter 4
Participation	any association between terms other than Attribute or Generalization. (This would typically appear as a relationship in an entity/relationship diagram.)	See Chapter 4
Phrase	one component of a text ordering that reflects the usage of an Object Role in a specific position of the Text Ordering, identifying its syntactic role and providing its portion of the text (with marker).	See Chapter 4
Policy	a general statement of direction for an enterprise.	See Chapter3
Role	a statement of the way in which one Term may serves as an actor (another Term) through its interactions with its environment. For example, "a customer may be a buyer in a contract". (or, a seller in, the recipient of, etc.)	See Chapter 4
Sensor	a special kind of Type whose value is asserted by some mechanism or device whose inner workings are unknown (or uninteresting to the identified scope). Its value cannot be altered directly. A sensor detects and reports constantly changing values from the outside world, such as the passage of time, a temperature reading, or some other value.	See Chapter 4
Structural Assertion	a statement that something of importance to the business either exists as a concept of interest or exists in relationship to another thing of interest. It details a specific, static aspect of the business, expressing things to be known or how known things fit together.	See Chapter 4
Term	a word or phrase used by the business.	See Chapter 4
Text Ordering	the portrayal of one possible wording of a Fact. It is an aggregation of its constituent phrases.	See Chapter 4
Timer	a type of Action Assertion that tests, enables (or disables), or creates (or deletes) if a specified threshold has been satisfied.	See Chapter5
Type	a named abstraction of a set of instances or values.	See Chapter 4