We all know how the BPMN standard helped in interoperability of business process definitions across lines of business and also across organizations. But there was one element missing in the BPMN standard - i.e. the ability to model business rules/decisions in a standard way so that they can be interoperable.
Most of the current business rule engines (aka BRMS) follow a proprietary standard for modeling rules and migration from one BRMS suite to another was usually painful. Hence, we are pretty excited about DMN (Decision Model and Notation), a standard from OMG that can be considered complimentary to BPMN.
Many Rule Modeling tools such as IBM Decision Composer, OpenRules and Drools already support the DMN standard. Part of the DMN standard is also a Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL). FEEL defines a syntax for embedding expressions in the rule.
An excellent tutorial about DMN using decision tables can be found here - https://camunda.org/dmn/tutorial/. A good video tutorial on IBM decision composer is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG2rGDhowcU
It is important to understand the difference between a decision modeling tool and a decision execution engine. A decision modeling tool would give a GUI to define the decision model using the DMN standard. This decision model can be exported as a *.dmn file (which is in XML format - example here). The decision execution engine actually is the runtime to execute the model. Most of the existing rule engines have extended their support to run rules defined in DMN model. For example, the new IBM Decision Composer is a web-based rule modeling tool, but the modeled rules can be exported to run in the existing ODM engines.
So in theory, the DMN model created by one tool can be used to execute the model in another tool . Some folks have tested this and noted down the challenges in this whitepaper - The Effectiveness of DMN Portability
Most of the current business rule engines (aka BRMS) follow a proprietary standard for modeling rules and migration from one BRMS suite to another was usually painful. Hence, we are pretty excited about DMN (Decision Model and Notation), a standard from OMG that can be considered complimentary to BPMN.
Many Rule Modeling tools such as IBM Decision Composer, OpenRules and Drools already support the DMN standard. Part of the DMN standard is also a Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL). FEEL defines a syntax for embedding expressions in the rule.
An excellent tutorial about DMN using decision tables can be found here - https://camunda.org/dmn/tutorial/. A good video tutorial on IBM decision composer is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG2rGDhowcU
It is important to understand the difference between a decision modeling tool and a decision execution engine. A decision modeling tool would give a GUI to define the decision model using the DMN standard. This decision model can be exported as a *.dmn file (which is in XML format - example here). The decision execution engine actually is the runtime to execute the model. Most of the existing rule engines have extended their support to run rules defined in DMN model. For example, the new IBM Decision Composer is a web-based rule modeling tool, but the modeled rules can be exported to run in the existing ODM engines.
So in theory, the DMN model created by one tool can be used to execute the model in another tool . Some folks have tested this and noted down the challenges in this whitepaper - The Effectiveness of DMN Portability
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