The Data Model Resource Book, Volume 3: Universal Patterns for Data Modeling

Chapter 8. Business Rules: How Things Should Work

"The central idea behind the concept of business rules is that any organization has logic that it uses to carry out its operational and managerial tasks."

—Malcolm Chisholm^[71]

"The first and most basic principle in rule management is that your rules should be databased."

—Ronald G. Ross^[72]

Every enterprise has processes, rules, and logic that define how the enterprise functions. For example, armies have standard protocols for command and control, most firms adhere to General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and investment banking institutions have limit and risk criteria to which they need to adhere. These business rules are expressed in many different ways; for example, as process models, standards documents, and books and other documents that record these rules. Often business rules are not formally expressed at all, but are almost ethereal and may exist only in the minds and experience of employees (the worst-case scenario). Data and business rules have a symbiotic relationship. Data gets affected by rules, and the rules are only guidelines unless they affect the data in some way. Given the importance of business rules, it is crucial to have a set of formal patterns for data models to enable the expression of business rules in a consistent and rigorous manner.

What Is the Significance of This Type of Pattern?

Data models capture the relationships that exist between different entities. These relationships can be regarded as one ...