designing services, messages & business rules for ebusiness graham witt

Designing Services, Messages & Business Rules for eBusiness Graham Witt

Topics

Some background

Why this project was a bit different

The techniques we used

Managing change

Lessons and benefits

Further reading

Slide 2© Graham Witt 2012

Some background

The client: NSW Land & Property Information

• their examples reproduced with thanks

The overall requirement: a set of services, to support supply of information

• by industry to government (B2G)• by government to industry (G2B)

incoming information governed by numerous business rules

Implications: Business rules need to be:

• implemented in multiple platforms• visible to multiple stakeholders (as far upstream as possible)


Business rule visibility across the end-to-end process

To avoid rework data compliance should be checked as early as possible

Industry therefore needs access to Land Registry business rules

© Mathew Cooper / Graham Witt 2012 Slide 4

Client Subscriber Certifier

Electronic Lodgement

NetworkLR

Land Registry Business Rule Book

Industry case

management systems

Electronic lodgement & registration

systems

Common data

standard

Pre-lodgement

acceptability checks

Financial institution systems

The challenge

To convert from unstructured information with accompanying

supporting evidence, to structured data for automated compliance

checking

To convert from manual compliance checking by expert

examiners at the Land Registry, to compliance checking by industry

To automate manual compliance checking in industry and the Land Registry

Slide 5© Mathew Cooper / Graham Witt 2012

LR

Information flow

Paper conveyancing: “show me”

Electronic conveyancing: “tell me”

Slide 6

Lodgement Case

ELN

Client Identity

Verification Client Authorisation

Agreement

Control of Right to

Deal

Registry Instrument

Supporting Evidence

Notice of Sale

Lodgement Instruction

‘Paper curtain’

Land Registry Transaction

Services

Digital Signing

Instrument Certification Registry

Instrument

Registry Instrument

Client Subscriber Certifier

© Mathew Cooper / Graham Witt 2012

Subscriber System

Subscriber System

Topics

Some background



Managing change


Further reading


© Graham Witt 2010 - 2012

A generic system

Slide 8


A typical system

Slide 9


This system

Slide 10

Topics

Some background



Managing change


Further reading


Techniques

Standardised terminology (common agreed vocabulary)

Business-friendly service definitions Service Use Cases aka Message Use Cases BPMN process models where service logic complex

Business-friendly message descriptions Business-friendly notations Design component re-use

Natural language business rule statements Catalogued against data items

© Graham Witt 2012 Slide 12

Standardised terminology

For all artefacts Services Message types Data items Data types Processes

Agreed Terms, compatible with current industry terminology, with: agreed definitions (intensional) synonyms (allowed and prohibited) exclusions (“as distinct from”)

Taxonomic relationships between Terms, e.g., Person is a category of Party

Fact types, linking Terms using verb phrases, e.g., Document specifies Transacting Party

© Graham Witt 2010 - 2012 Slide 13

Service Use Cases – 1


© Graham Witt 2012


etc.Slide 16

BPMN process models


Business-friendly message descriptions

Describe content of message types in terms of data items relationships between them cardinality and some content rules

Various textual and diagrammatic representations tried Entity-Relationship diagrams XMLSpy diagrams “Hand crafted” structure diagrams (in Visio) “High-level” block diagrams Hierarchic block diagrams with legal numbering


“High-level” block diagram


Hierarchic block diagram with legal numbering



Data types – 1

Reusable data objects, i.e., that appear in multiple places in messages

May be simple, e.g.,

May be complex, e.g.

Slide 21


Data types – 2

May be part of a taxonomy, e.g.,

Slide 22


Message types

Consist of data items that either: have a data type, or are composed of other data items

Slide 23

Natural language business rule statements – 1

Constrained natural language Standardised terminology (terms and verb phrases) Standardised syntax

Allows for easier checking of duplicates, contradictions etc Can be understood by business stakeholders and information providers as well

as developers Each catalogued against relevant data item


Natural language business rule statements – 2

Also full form of rule statement Stand-alone (requires complete context) Can be used as error message expressing desired condition


Topics

Some background



Managing change


Further reading


Managing change

No repository dealing with all this and change

Considered wiki approach: need relatively stable position for this to work

Many reviewers so needed accessible well-understood documentation and review platform

MSWord allowed: version deltas (revision marks) reviewers’ proposed changes (revision marks) reviewers’ comments (comments) hyperlinks for navigation within and between documents

PDF allowed: publication of final versions

Version number/folder discipline: Published\...vn.00 WIP\...vn.mmaa (e.g., v2.01GW, v2.02PN)


Topics

Some background



Managing change


Further reading



Lessons:

the importance of agreeing, defining and using a common glossary

the need for precision in language used

the need to define concepts, messages (data), services/processes and business rules concurrently and iteratively, e.g. errors in message design identified during rule writing

Benefits:

simplification of existing processes

the business has been able to define, communicate, review and update its requirements

Slide 29© Mathew Cooper / Graham Witt 2012

A measure of success

NECDL, the national body tasked with implementing electronic conveyancing, needed: a single common data standard a set of message types

incorporating the various state requirements

That body: determined the functional requirements for the national system used the NSW message and document schemas as the basis for the

common data standard adopted the NSW documentation techniques then incorporated each jurisdiction’s additional or different requirements to produce a common data standard for the National Electronic

Conveyancing System


Topics

Some background



Managing change

A measure of success

Further reading


Further reading – 2

Slide 32

http://www.elsevierdirect.com/product.jsp?isbn=9780126445510

http://mkp.com/news/writing-effective-business-rules-by-graham-witt

© Graham Witt 2012

Further reading

Slide 33

www.brcommunity.com/index.php

Any questions?

[email protected]

Slide 34

What?

How?

Who?

When?

Where?

Why?

© Graham Witt 2012

mailto:[email protected]

designing services, messages & business rules for ebusiness graham witt

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