How to Build a Business Rules Engine

appears at the bottom of the screen containing codes and descriptions. These codes

and descriptions are taken directly from the reference data table. The user can select

the default value, which can be accessed later by the rules engine when rules associ-

ated with the reference data table are being defined.

Conclusion

Reference data is a complex area. It is business data, but is deeply entwined in the

metadata that is required to define business rules. A business rules engine must have

a strategy for managing reference data, in particular because reference data is so often

used to identify subtypes. The design described here has a number of advantages that

will become apparent when rules definition interfaces and code generation routines

are discussed. ...