Business Rules Management

SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management (BRM) is a capability of SAP NetWeaver that allows you to model rules. You can model rules using the rules composer of BRM. In the business process context you can use the rules modeled with the rules composer in your process or you create rulesets in the process composer.

Enhancements in the Rules Composer

The rules composer is the design time of BRM where you model rules. It is integrated into SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio as a separate perspective. This topic lists all new and enhanced features in the rules composer.

Feature	Description	Type of Change	More Information
Project Resources Common Definitions Enumeration Types Effectivities	Contains constructs that can be defined once and reused in all the rulesets within a project.	New	Using Project Resources
Overrides	When two rules of the same priority are satisfied, overrides can be used to determine the actions of which rule should be fired	New	Overriding an If-Then Rule
Smart Aliases	By setting smart aliases you can automatically generate meaningful alias names using annotations in Java classes and XML schemas.	New	Setting Smart Aliases
Replace Aliases	It is now possible to replace aliases in rules without manually editing them in the rule editor.	New	Replacing Aliases
Export Data into a Decision Table Import Data From a Decision Table	To facilitate easy editing of values in a decision table by business users, it is now possible to export the decision table to Microsoft Excel, make changes and import the same back into the rules composer DC.	New	Exporting Data from a Decision Table to an Excel Sheet Importing Data from an Excel Sheet to a Decision Table
Flow Rulesets	Represents sequential execution of rules. It consists of various constructs such as aliases, definitions, if-then rules, definitions, decision tables, if-then rules, gateways and rule scripts.	New	Creating a Flow Ruleset
Rule Flows	Is a sequence of activities for evaluating business rules. The order of the execution of the rules is diagrammatically represented in the form of a flow chart.	New	Creating and Editing a Rule Flow
Rule Scripts	Is a reusable artifact within a Flow Ruleset and is a sequence of actions	New	Creating and Editing a Rule Script
Rule Testing	Allows users to test the correctness of rules immediately after definition, before their deployment.	New	Testing Rules
Ruleset as a web service	For easy consumption of business rules from every where, it is now possible to expose a ruleset built on the XSD model as a web service.	New	Exposing a Ruleset as a Web Service
Options to compare rulesets and aliases	You can now compare changes made to aliases and ruleset.	New	Comparing Aliases and Rulesets
For list of UI changes and other enhancements, refer: What's New in the Rules Composer

Enhancements in the Process Composer

Feature	Type of Change	More Information
Rules and Functions folder changes to Rulesets folder In the ruleset editor, the Return Type and Parameters fields in the Signature section are now editable	Enhancement	Working with rules

Changes in Documentation

SAP NetWeaver BRM now has a business user's guide for rules manager.

The rules manager is a new rule-centric application, based on SAP's Web Dynpro technology, that provides a rule management environment. It allows business managers, administrators, functional users to modify business rules and effect changes in real time. Using the Rules Manager, one can add, edit or delete any of the rule artifacts such as rulesets, rules and decision tables without stopping the rule engine. The changes made to the rule artifacts take place instantaneously on the rule engine.

Highlights	More Information
Access Control: Access to Rules Manager is controlled by appropriate access. This access can be set using NWA.	Setting Access Control for Business Rules Project
Business Logging: Consists of logs that are generated at execution time and contain the entire execution stack trace. Business Logs can be viewed using the Log Viewer in NWA	Checking Rules Log Information