ILOG JRules Version 6.5 is primarily a refinement of the architecture and features first introduced in Version 6.0. With the 6.x line, ILOG adopted the basic architecture seen across the BRMS (Business Rules Management System) industry. As such, JRules combines a rule engine deployed and managed as a stand-alone module (Rule Execution Server); a rule repository for sharing, versioning, and reporting on rules (Rule Team Server); and a set of authoring tools for both business users and technical staff to interact with the repository (Rule Studio).

The Bottom Line ILOG JRules 6.5.2 ILOG, ilog.com Very Good  8.0 criteria score weight Rule Management 9 30% Performance 7 20% Developer tools 9 20% Documentation 6 10% Setup 7 10% Value 8 10% Cost: Starts at $50,000 for the Starter Pack and ranges to $500,000 or more depending on whether the customer is applying the BRMS to a single application, to a number of CPUs in multiple applications or services, or to larger enterprise deployments Platforms: Any operating system that supports Java (Mac OS X not officially supported) Bottom Line: The introduction of Transparent Decision Services makes this upgrade well worth considering for organizations implementing SOA. This version sees some maturation of the enhancements introduced in the 6.x line of the product, along with improvements to usability for business analysts. Involvement from technical staff is still recommended for most parts of the rule lifecycle, and some parts of the product are showing their age. About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology

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This application architecture reflects the commoditization of the rule execution engines: Dozens of rule engines are on the market these days. The difference between the major vendors (ILOG, Fair Isaac, and a few others) and the open-source engines is the maturity of the tools supplied for integrating business rules into the enterprise and managing the rules, and the ease with which nontechnical analysts can use them.

The 6.5.2 release of ILOG JRules I tested contains the usual slew of bug fixes, some refinements to existing features, and adds the capability of building, deploying, and managing rule-based decision services within an SOA environment. Note: At the time this went to press, ILOG released Version 6.6.

Rule services made simple
I'll start with the most exciting feature first: the capability of easily deploying rule services as part of an SOA. Although this had been possible in previous versions, it required a rather involved deployment process and was beyond the abilities of most technical analysts. With 6.5, business rules may be deployed into a SOA with zero code development and then updated by business users from the browser using Team Server. This feature, referred to as TDS (Transparent Decision Services)by ILOG, elevates business decision services to first-class citizens within a service-oriented architecture.

There are a few limitations to TDS: It provides only SOAP/HTTP based services, and it only works if the Business Object Model has been defined in XML. These days, with SOA being adopted more widely, the latter isn't a significant limitation. On the other hand, having only SOAP/HTTP limits the usefulness of TDS to point-to-point solutions. With a bit of programming, developers can create a JMX (Java Management Exension) MBean (Managed Bean) that will appear in the Rule Execution Server console as a JMS (Java Message Service)-based decision service, but it's not the kind of zero-coding option that TDS provides for point-to-point Web services.

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All that said, this is still a big step in the right direction, and I hope that ILOG will continue to improve TDS. Allowing business users to directly manage rule services in an SOA, without relying on developers to make changes, makes the business much more responsive to a changing environment.

The flip side of putting rule management into the hands of business owners is increased risk of mistakes. Testing becomes more important. RSM (Rule Scenario Manager), the optional testing module for JRules, sees a few minor enhancements to usability. RSM has great potential, although I hope to see further improvements to usability in future versions. Having a mechanism to test business rules to ensure operational compliance (BASEL II, SOX, etc.) is essential, and RSM makes this much easier than writing JUnit tests. However, the tool is still suitable only for technical staff. In order to be truly useful, RSM should allow business analysts -- the folks who truly own the business rules -- to test rules and run simulations and scenarios on their own. RSM is also inflexible in its methodology. For example, rule-testing artifacts should be stored and versioned along with the rules themselves, but RSM handles them separately.