How to Build a Business Rules Engine

of the business processes in which these rules participate, there can be problems. For

instance, it is possible to generate circular references, where each rule tries to use the

other as an input.

The real answer to the issue of multiuser functionality is that it should be driven

by requirements. There is no “best practice” or “right way,” although there are clearly

limits on how far rule definition functionality can support multiuser requirements.

If the rules engine designer finds that there are two general business areas where dif-

ferent sets of users need to work simultaneously, and there is a very high probability

the users in each area will not need to reuse rules from the other area, then a multi-

user approach to rules definition is justified. ...