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

Silverston c08.tex V2 - 11/21/2008 3:12am Page 465

Summary of Patterns 465

NOTE

There are also other alternate ways of maintaining the various roles for

BUSINESS RULE(s), and we suggest you see Chapter 3 for a discussion of some of

these alternatives.

This pattern supports the creation of any other business rule roles that may be

defined by your enterprise. You are not just limited to the roles that we have

defined, based on Ron Ross’s business rule principles. But Ron Ross’s business

rules roles are a good guide for the type of roles involved in business rules.

When Should This Pattern Be Used?

We use this pattern when:

There is a need to capture the different PARTY(s) that are involved

with BUSINESS RULE(s) in various ROLE TYPE(s) over time. Possible

ROLE TYPE(s) include ‘‘Rule manager,’’ ‘‘Authorized rule user,’’ ‘‘Rule

specifier,’’ and Rule source’’; however, the pattern supports any num-

ber of roles, parties involved, at many different times for any BUSINESS

RULE(s).

What Are the Weaknesses of the Pattern?

The weakness of this pattern is as follows:

Some enterprises may not need this amount of detail. They may be

interested in the specification of only the business rules and perhaps one

or two key roles. Thus, an alternative is to apply a different Contextual

Role Pattern instead of the Level 3 Contextual Role Pattern shown in this

chapter.

Synopsis

In this section we described how PARTY(s) playing