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Expressing Business Rules using Object Role Modelling
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Hargreaves, Adrian |
| Copyright Year | 2004 |
| Abstract | Numerous industry surveys have suggested that most IT projects still end in failure. Incomplete, ambiguous and inaccurate specifications are cited as a major causal factor. Traditional techniques for specifying requirements most often lack the expressiveness with which to model subtle but common features within organisations. As a consequence, many of the business rules that determine the structure and behaviour of organisations are simply not captured until the latter stages of the development lifecycle. Business rules originate as policies that are adopted by organisations to achieve their higher-level goals. The Business Rules Group (BRG) has defined a detailed taxonomy for these rules. The concepts and definitions within this taxonomy can guide analysts to seek appropriate information from end-users to define their requirements. Unfortunately, most techniques that are currently employed for representing requirements incorporate implementation details unfamiliar to business people. Unless domain experts can actively challenge the analyst’s understanding of these rules, how can analysts be certain they are defining the required system? A Fact-based technique called Object Role Modelling (ORM) has been investigated as an alternative approach, and a case study conducted by the author has suggested that it could provide a mechanism for improving the quality of requirements. The technique’s ability to capture and represent requirements rigorously, but still in a form comprehensible to business people, could provide a powerful analysis tool for system developers. A case study conducted recently by the author attempted to synthesise ORM with the concepts and definitions provided by the BRG. In this way, business rules discovered in the organisation were expressed in the natural language of ORM. The results from this case study suggested that a single conceptual framework, meaningful to both business people and analysts, is a realisable goal. Exploiting the expressive simplicity of conceptual modelling techniques to articulate an organisation’s business rules could help to fill a significant requirements gap. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.naccq.ac.nz/conference05/proceedings_04/hargreaves.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
