S1000D Business Rules

As part of the process of implementing an S1000D-based system, groups are asked to develop a set of Business Rules. The almost universal questions after being tasked to develop these rules are:

1. What exactly are S1000D Business Rules?
2. How are S1000D Business Rules enforced?
3. How do groups create S1000D Business Rules?

What are S1000D Business Rules?

In short, S1000D Business Rules define how your group is going to create, manage, and deliver technical content. The S1000D specification itself identifies over 600 business rule decision points. Further, it is recommended that each group develop business rules for each optional element and attribute in the S1000D schemas, as well as general authoring guidelines for content creators.

How are S1000D Business Rules Enforced?

S1000D business rules are enforced in two primary ways: By company or project policy and by the Business Rules Exchange (BREX) Data Module. Business rules that cover general policy (such as using an IETM environment vs print) are dictated in a Business Rule document, but do not need to be enforced programmatically. Rules that govern what can and cannot appear in a project's content (for instance, only certain measurement values will be allowed) must be enforced programmatically. The S1000D committee has chosen to use the BREX data module as the means of enforcing such Business Rule decisions. The BREX data module contains xpath statements that check authored content (either during or after the authoring process) to ensure that only values specified in the project's business rules are in the data itself.

How Do Groups Create S1000D Business Rules?

Each of the 600+ business rules identified in the S1000D specification, coupled with any additional rules that the group wishes to create must be created and codified in a Business Rules document, and programmatically enforceable rules must be written into the BREX data module. This can, understandably, be a time consuming process. We have heard of some groups and institutions taking more than a year to finalize their S1000D Business Rules. As most of our customers cannot afford such a lengthy time period to develop business rules, Crowell Solutions utilizes two key factors to drastically reduce the time it takes to create a finalized set of S1000D Business Rules. In fact, the majority of our customers have their completed S1000D Business Rules in 3 months or less. These two factors are:

1. Use of Prior Experience
2. Use of Decision Point™ collaborative software

Prior Experience

Crowell Solutions has developed S1000D Business Rules (including Business Rules for S1000D Version 4) for many customers. Our unparalleled experience allows us to quickly navigate the rules identified in the specification, identify possible additional rules for groups to consider, and incorporate any rules that the group develops during this process.

Decision Point

Decision Point™ is our S1000D Business Rules application. It grew out of the need for our clients to be able to respond to business rule decisions on their own time, as opposed to endless face to face meetings. Decision Point allows either Crowell Solutions or our clients to enter a decision. Our clients can then review the decision and either accept it or reject it. Once all of the decisions have been agreed to, a report is run and an S1000D Business Rules document is generated in either HTML, XML, Word, PDF, or all of the above! Be sure to visit S1000D Business Rules | Decision Point for a complete overview of the Decision Point application.

Do you have Questions about Implementing S1000D Business Rules? Contact us:

Crowell Solutions, Inc.
400 North St. Paul, #1025
Dallas, TX 75201

Phone (214) 468-9131
Fax (214) 722-1062

Email info@crowsol.com