8/7/2019 Kathy Long: Process and Rules - Keeping it Simple - BRPN March 8th, 2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kathy-long-process-and-rules-keeping-it-simple-brpn-march-8th-2011 1/2

 

Kathy Long and BRPN visit Atos Origin

Recently Atos Origin hosted Kathy Long and the Business Rules P latformNetherlands (BRPN) at the Atos Origin Campus in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

BRPN is the Dutch Platform and vivid meeting place for bothorganizations and individuals to share their common interest inbusiness rules and exchange views and practical experiences. Inthis tradition Kathy Long showed us how to keep things simplewith business rules and business processes, using her fieldexperience and her collaboration w ith Ron Ross, Roger Burtlonand Ellen Gottesdiener. Both Kathy Long and the BRPN werewelcomed by P eter Kalmijn, chairman of the Business RulesCommunity of Atos Origin.

Process and Rules:Keeping it SimpleStarting with aninteractive warm-upinvolving the audience,Kathy Long smoothlyproceeded to provideinsight how to identifyprocess components in aneffective and quick way,using the Input GuideOutput Enabler (IGOE)process model. This modelwas immediately

recognized by theaudience and Kathypointed out that it isessential to recognize thespecific role the guidesplay in this model: theydetermine why, how andwhen something happens in the process.Kathy showed us that contrast to operational business rules, guides are based on intentions.They reside inside the mind of policy makers and are subject to change.

GuidesAs examples of process guides, Kathy presented both assumed and explicit policies,interpreted laws and regulations (compliance), but also criteria for completeness and

acceptance. Following this perspective guides define the purpose of the process and providethe knowledge how to take the decisions inside the process. Performance targets andperformance criteria are a special kind of guides, because they can be used as feedback loopsand can help you to discover process measurement criteria and performance indicators.

Reducing ClutterKathy confronted us how easy we all fall into the trap of disclosing too much detail andcomplexity and therefore losing the customer in the process. The blank face of a customer wasrecognized with humor by the audience. But how can we keep the balance in a practical way?To solve this issue, Kathy showed us practical ways to incorporate rules into process analysisand to analyze the guides of the process. She also pointed out potential problems, such asmultiple decisions based on one rule, bottom-up misalignment of rules to processes, andprovides tips to avoid these problems.

8/7/2019 Kathy Long: Process and Rules - Keeping it Simple - BRPN March 8th, 2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kathy-long-process-and-rules-keeping-it-simple-brpn-march-8th-2011 2/2