Context and result define the input and output parameter interface. In BRFplus, input parameters are referred to as context while output parameters are referred to as result. Context and result are data carriers.

Context and result are a set of data objects, such as an element, structure, or a table. A context or a result of type element can be a text, number, Boolean, quantity, amount, and timepoint.

Functions and expressions have a context. A set of attributes defined by the context is used as input values to be processed by a function or an expression. The context can consist of one or many elements, structures, or tables, each of which is addressed by its name.

In contrast to this, a function or expression can always have only one result data object. Given that, if a business rule is to return more than one value at once, this can only be accomplished by assigning a structure or a table as a result data object.

The context data of a function can be used by all sub-expressions that belong to the function's top expression. The input parameters of the expressions are filled either with the function's context or with the result of other expressions.