There are a few notable features lacking in the .Net version of Rule Studio, among them templates and the ability to trace rule execution in Visual Studio. Templates allow developers to set up different classes of rule types, which business analysts can then customize. Rule execution tracing allows developers to watch as rules are being executed. Both of these features are very useful in JRules.
Killer rule execution
The Rule Execution Server (screen image) is a central component to execute and manage business rules in the .Net environment. JRules adopts a J2EE-centric approach to enterprise-class rule engine services by providing JMX, JCA, and other J2EE components. RES for .Net, meanwhile, adopts a Microsoft-centric approach. It uses Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to provide a reliable communications infrastructure based on the Web services architecture and Microsoft Management Console for administration.
RES is composed of three services: management, persistence, and execution, which are administered just like any other services on a Microsoft platform. These services perform exactly the functions you think they would. Rule sets and data may be persisted to the file system or a database. There are numerous deployment options for the execution service: local, remote, within IIS, single server, multiple servers. All the services are glued together using standard Microsoft technologies, such as Windows Management Instrumentation.
Office integration
Rules for .Net exposes business logic to business analysts using tools they're already familiar with: the Microsoft Office suite. They can manage decision tables in Excel and other decision metaphors in Word (screen image). Version 3.0 of Rules.Net requires Microsoft Office 2007, to which many users may not have upgraded; the integration, however, makes excellent use of 2007 features.
These heavily customized Microsoft Office documents include property panels and extensive error-checking against the business object models created by the IT department, reducing the change that a nontechnical user will make a mistake. Errors are highlighted, both in the text and in an error panel, and include suggestions for corrections. The BOM (Business Object Model) vocabulary is also available for browsing within the documents, simplifying the rule editing task.
Rules requiring team interactions and versioning are managed through SharePoint, already in widespread use in many organizations that have adopted Microsoft Office. Versioning takes place in exactly the same way it does in SharePoint, and permissions can likewise be managed.
Also new in Version 3.0: the use of Microsoft's IntelliSense to create an intelligent, guided editor to help lead business analyst users through the creation and maintenance of business rules.
This Microsoft Office integration, with business rules embedded in the same document as their supporting documentation, is a real boon. Consider the ubiquitous travel policy. Nearly every organization has one. Thanks to the tight integration of Microsoft Office and Rules for .Net, the travel department could specify the travel policy in English for publication to human readers, right alongside the rules that will be implemented by the rules engine that processes the expense reports. This is a very powerful mechanism to keep business policies in sync with the rules that are executed by the engine.
Although the Office integration tools are well put together and appear to be a good idea, time will tell if this feature gains widespread adoption. The idea of business rules spread out into a number of separate documents and managed in SharePoint is one that's going to take some getting used to, and I'm unaware of any large-scale implementations of this feature.
ILOG Rules for .Net 3.0 brings one of the industry's most advanced rules engines to the .Net platform. The combination of .Net integration, Visual Studio, and the capability to author rules directly in Microsoft Office make this one of the best BRMSes in the market for the Microsoft platform. While still a bit rough around the edges, and not quite as full featured as JRules, ILOG and team are making great improvements in this product. I look forward to future versions.
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