Siebel 8.

0 Essentials

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Module 41: Siebel Business Rules

Module Objectives
To know the process of automating business decisions and logic in

Siebel applications using Haley Authority To describe Siebel Business Rules architecture To understand how to create business rules and deploy them

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Implementing Business Logic in Siebel Applications

Can often be done using declarative configuration such as:

Properties in business components and fields Siebel workflows Siebel state models Occasionally requires custom scripting

Custom scripting can result in:

Business logic that is distributed throughout the application Difficult to understand the complete set of implemented logic Business logic that is represented in multiple ways with different syntax
Difficult to modify to meet new requirements The need to compile and deploy a new Siebel repository file (SRF)

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Business Challenge

Companies want a more unified way to implement business logic

Centralized store of business rules or logic that can be easily modified to incorporate changing business processes Reviewable by non-implementers such as business analysts Deployable without recompiling the SRF file Allows updating of business logic at run time

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Solution: Siebel Business Rules

Provides the ability for companies to create and enforce rules that

capture their business policies

Rules are expressed in natural English rather than a script or SQL statements Rules can be specified and reviewed by business experts Rules are centrally developed and administered Rules are enforced globally throughout the Siebel application

Uses client-side configuration rather than repository-based

configuration and compilation

Allows rules to be created, updated, and deployed during run time

Groups of rules, or modules, for different purposes and applications can be developed and deployed separately:
Versioned objects help to easily revert to previous versions. Access levels to modules can be used to define who may modify particular rules and modules

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Examples of Uses of Siebel Business Rules

Perform validation of data Provide default values for fields in records Provide default child records

Update records
Implement dynamic read-only/required behavior Compute values of parameters to be used in decision steps in workflow

process and UI tasks Perform business calculations

Determine if a warranty applies Determine if a customer is eligible for a discount or offer and explain why

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Siebel Business Rule

Is the familiar connotation for well-defined business processes. Logical statements constructed that capture and implement business

processes in Siebel applications. Is a conditional or qualified statement about business entities and characteristics that apply in a business environment
Is written using the rules of English grammar
Are created using HaleyAuthority Are executed in the Siebel client using a run-time inference engine

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Concepts
Are nouns that represent the entities and their characteristics

Are used to build rule statements Play roles in relations May include nouns or noun phrasings, including adjectives Correspond to business components and fields in the Siebel data model

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HaleyAuthority
To implement natural language business rules to automate decisions

declaratively Is a separate third-party application used to examine and develop Siebel business rules
Is installed as part of a Siebel Tools installation Is invoked from the Siebel Tools program group
Imports relevant object definitions from the Siebel development

repository Generates the corresponding Haley concepts Is used to author the rule statements based on the generated concepts Stores concepts and statements in a separate database referred to as a knowledge base Deploys rules to a set of tables in the Siebel run-time client

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Run-Time Inference Engine

Is a third-party rules engine used to evaluate and execute business

rules at run time Is installed automatically in the Siebel client during a standard client installation Is accessed by calling the Business Rules Service business service
Serves as the interface to the inference engine
Can be invoked using:

Runtime events Siebel workflows Siebel Task-based UI Business services

The same business logic (rule module) can be reused in any of these

contexts. Allows you to simulate rules execution before deployment

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Exploring Rules
Use HaleyAuthority to examine rules

Click the Modules & Statements tab to display rule statements

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Structure of Rules
Rules are written using English grammar (natural English) A given rule can be expressed in several ways Common practice is to create statements followed by qualifiers that

determine if the statement applies

If: statement applies when at least one if qualifier is true Unless: statement does not apply when unless qualifier is true Only if: statement applies when all only if qualifiers are true

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Rule Statements
A statement can be either a:

Statement of fact Example: An expense report is a valid expense report Statement of action Set Reimbursable Flag of an expense item to false
Siebel-specific actions consist of three action types

Actions: Produce output or modify data in the Siebel application Set a field value, invalidate with reason Invalidate with reason raises an error but does not stop evaluation of rules Functions: Return a value from the Siebel application Get profile attribute, get active view name Predicates: Return a Boolean value User in task mode, currency is equal to

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Concepts
Concepts are generated

automatically using the Siebel Object Importer in HaleyAuthority

Entities correspond to Siebel objects Values correspond to single-value fields of objects
Click the Concepts tab in

HaleyAuthority to display the concepts

Entity: Describes entities (things) in the business model
Value: Describes characteristics of

entities in the business model Rules developers must not:

Modify the underlying concepts Create additional concepts manually

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Entities
Expand Entity to display the entities

Represent the business components imported from the Siebel repository

Expense and Expense Item are Business Components imported for these rules

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Value
Expand Value and its children types to display the values Represent business component fields imported from the Siebel

repository
Are grouped by the type of the field

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Phrasings
Consist of short expressions that capture a relationship between

concepts
Typically represent the relationship between a business component and one of its fields or a child business component
Are used to build rule statements

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Developing Rules
1. Create a New Knowledge Base 2. Import Siebel Object Definitions 3. Create a Rule Module 4. Deploy the Rule Module

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1. Create a New Knowledge Base

Start HaleyAuthority from the Siebel Tools program group Select the ODBC connection string for the new knowledge base

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2. Import Siebel Object Definitions

Invoke the Siebel object importer

In HaleyAuthority, select File > Import > Siebel Object

Provide the connection information for:

Master repository data source (source of object definitions) Run-time data source (environment where rules will be run)

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2. Import Siebel Object Definitions

On the first import for a new knowledge base the following occurs

immediately:
Object definitions relating to currency and currency code are imported Concepts to support Siebel currency calculation procedures are created Siebel-specific actions, functions, and predicates are created
After currency-related concepts are created:\

Select Import Siebel Objects Specify the Siebel Business Object Select the business component and, possibly, child business components For each selected business component, select one or more fields

Inspect the concepts and the phrasings created Verify that the entities and values corresponding to the objects and

fields have been created

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3. Create a Rule Module

A module is a collection of rule statements that are deployed together Suggestion:

Create a rule module to contain only the statements that need to be evaluated as a set by the rules engine Name the rule module to indicate how the module will be invoked
A module can be divided into submodules to improve readability Click the Modules & Statement tab Add a new module (and submodules if desired) Add one or more statements

Use the Edit Statement dialog box to enter the statement

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4. Deploy the Rule Module

Invoke the Siebel Deployer

In HaleyAuthority select Tools > Siebel Deployment Verify the connection parameters for the run-time data source Select the modules to deploy and click OK

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Administer Deployed Rules

In the Siebel client, navigate to Administration - Business Rules > Rule Modules List Select the deployed rule module Specify the business object that will provide data to the run-time rules engine Should be the business object specified for object import Create one or more Rule Module Relation records They identify the business components necessary to evaluate the rules Click New and select the records that specify the parent-child relationships captured

in the rules Click the Activate button in the Rule Modules list applet to set the status to active
Only active rules are evaluated by the rules engine

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Creating a Run-Time Event and Action Set

In the Siebel client, navigate to Administration - Runtime Events > Action Sets.

Create a new action set, and a child action of BusService type In the More Info applet Specify Business Rule Service and RunRules as the business service name and method Specify the rule module name as the context
Create an event record for the business component and test with appropriate data

Specify the desired run-time event Assign the action set Select Reload Runtime Events from the applet menu

Rule Module Name

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Module Highlights
Business policies can be captured by users using Siebel Business

Rules
Are expressed in natural English Developed by client-side configuration
Siebel Business Rules consist of:

Authoring tool accessible from Siebel Tools A run-time execution engine accessed by calling a business service
A rules module consists of multiple statements based on a set of

predefined concepts, actions, functions, and predicates

Concepts correspond to business components and fields in the Siebel repository

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Lab
In this lab you will:

To examine a rule module and identify the business logic To import the Siebel objects in to the Haley Authority Business Rules Developer and examine them

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