Work with Decision Models

When creating a business process for your application, very often, you’ll need to create decisions that enable you to automate policies, computations, and reasoning. Instead of creating multiple decisions, you can create a decision model consisting of decisions and sub-decisions, and associated decision services to allow you to use the decision model in your business processes. Process allows you to create decision models that make business processes less complex, easier to manage, and more robust in the face of change.

Decision models consist of :

• Decisions and sub-decisions along with the implementation logic

• Input data and type

• Associated decision services

Creating a decision model involves the following main tasks, as described in detail in subsequent sections:

• Create a decision model, the container for decisions, sub-decisions, input data, and decision services. See Create Decision Models and Understand Decision Model Views.

• Add decisions and sub-decisions. See Add and Order Decisions.

• Define the input data and type for your decisions. See Define Decision Input and Type.

• Model the decision logic. Use Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL) to define expressions within all notations of decision logic, including decision tables. FEEL is defined by DMN to provide standard executable semantics to all expressions used within a decision model. See Define Expressions with the Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL) and Model Decision Logic.

• Test the decisions and sub-decisions within your decision model to ensure that they work as expected. See Test Decisions.

• Create snapshots of your decision model, and activate these on the DMN server. Decision snapshots are read-only copies of a decision model at a particular moment. These snapshots, once activated, can be used independently in multiple applications. You can create, delete or activate snapshots of your decision model or view read-only copies of a snapshot that has already been activated on the DMN server. See Manage Decision Model Snapshots.

• Create decision services to use the activated decision model snapshots in your process applications. See Add Decisions to Applications and Processes.

Decision models facilitate the modeling of complex decisions as a hierarchy of simple decisions. A decision model as a whole, or its decisions and sub-decisions can be used in multiple processes and applications.

You can share decision models with other users directly through the file system. See Import and Export Decision Models.