Additional Rules Engine Features

Rules Engine Categories

Rules Engine security is enforced through the set up of Rules Engine Categories. A Rules Engine Category is user-defined and tied to one or more Roles and/or specific Users. Rules Engine Category security determines which Entities can be accessed by these Roles and Users and what types of Rules can be created. There are three types of Rules: Triggers, Functions, and Rules. For example, specific Rules Engine Categories may allow the creation of Triggers but not of Rules or Functions. Also, Rules Engine Categories can be set up to use other Rules Engine Categories.

Rule Groups

A Rule Group is a template which can be used to create new Rules that share the same functional purpose. A Rule Group provides a predefined set of input and output parameters for a Rule or Function and an option to predefine a Base Entity. Whenever a Rule is created using the predefined Rule Group, all the Input and Output variables are populated using the Rule Group Template options. By using the same parameters, all Rules created in the same Rule Group can be used the same way. This is beneficial when, for example, you need multiple Rules to be called from a user interface, and you need all of those Rules all to provide similar feedback; like a message that can be displayed on screen. You may also want to dictate that the Input for all of these Rules needs to be the same, namely confined to the information available on the user interface. A Rule Group can subsequently be used to dynamically call all Rules associated with that Rule Group.

Creation of Rule Groups is optional.

Rule Creation

You can use the Rules Engine Manager component to Create, Build, Test, and Version a Rule, and determine if a Rule is used by other Rules.

Creating

You can identify and select a functional application area from which to retrieve data by selecting an Entity and, in the case of a Rule, defining the Criteria which need to be used to select specific data. Use Statements to act upon the selected entity by creating evaluative statements, performing calculations, calling other Rules and Functions, and updating and inserting data in the system.
Building

Once a Rule is created, you must build (compile) it before testing and using it. The Build action compiles the created Rule and converts it into executable code, which means the Rule is ready to perform evaluation and calculation tasks.
Testing

After Rules have been created and built, you can test them with the Rules Engine Tester. The Tester allows users to define and save one or more Test Profiles with test specific data so that multiple scenarios can be tested for the same Rule.
Versioning

The Rules Engine Manager allows the user to create new versions of a Rule and administer one or more version codes and/or code and comments whenever a new version of a Rule is created.
Cross Referencing

The Cross Reference page lists all Functions and Rules which reference the Rule in context.

Calling Rules and Creating Triggers

After Rules have been created, built, tested, and activated, they are ready to use. To use a Rule as part of a functional business process, it needs to be associated with and called from that process. For example, you can set up a Trigger and use the code created by the Trigger to call Rules from a user interface; keeping in mind that the Trigger-generated code may need some adjustment to work for the specific purpose for which you need it.

Note:

The determination of where you want to use Rules and how to make them available must be discussed with the technical team that supports Campus Solutions at your school.

Rules can be called and executed from the following application functionality:

Rules Engine Manager Tester
Rules Engine Batch Processing Component
Application Component (for example, a user interface)

See Constructing Rules, “Defining Rule Triggers.”