Are Business Rules Requirements?

Business organisations use information systems to streamline their operations. May of the activities that would be done by people are performed by software. The rules that the people would have followed are also embedded in the software so that the software would be able to follow the same rules. An example of such rules is: If the due date for an invoice lands on a weekend, move it to the next working day.

Software is built with reference to requirements that have been identified as needed to make the software useful. Manny of these requirements are functional. They specify what that software should do. For example: Generate an invoice when an order has been shipped. This requirement says that the software must a) generate an invoice, and b) only when an order has been shipped.  

Other businesses using the same software may want the invoice to be generated just before shipment as they will pack the invoice with the shipment.

One different between functional requirements and business requirements is that a functional requirement is about the purpose of the software. Why are we building it. Business rules are about the contraints that the software needs to follow when it does what it does.

Business rules can come from different areas of the business. Some may come from the accounting department. Some may come from the regulatory compliance department. Some may come from the payments and collection department. Or taxation. Or operations. 

What is common is that they are rules that other entities in the organisation also need to follow, whereas the functional requirements are requirements only on the software in question.

Writing is Speaking

From Lucile Vaughan Payne, in her book "The Lively Art of Writing. Understanding Forms"

All writing is the sound of one voice speaking, and all writing can be heard. Every sentence you write, the instant it is read—even when it is read in absolute silence—is heard by the reader as clearly as your actual voice would be heard if you were speaking face to face. When you write, your writing is your voice. Your sound. You.

This is a very important reminder to review your writing and make sure it sounds like your own voice and not in some affected manner. 

Program Evaluation

In the world of project management, a "program" (spelled as "programme" in the UK) is a set of projects that share a common program-level objective. 

A bank that needs to comply with new regulations may set up a project to revise technology platforms, another project to review the obligations and document what the bank has to do, another project to upgrade business processes to meet the regulations, another project to develop and deliver training to staff. And finally, a program that oversees and integrates the work of all these projects.

A clear boundary exists between projects and programs on the one hand, and operations on the other hand. The project and program team delivers the requested change. The operations team operate the business under the new changes. Hopefully what is delivered by the project and program team enables the operations team to meet the regulations.

Responsibilities are clearly delineated. The project and program team are only responsible for delivering what it was asked of. They are not responsible for operational compliance with regulations. The operations team is not responsible for what is to be delivered. They are just the recipients, but they are responsible and accountable for meeting the regulations.

It is obvious that this arrangement leaves the door open to problems. In practice, the operations team work closely with the project and program teams to ensure that what is delivered is what the operations team needs.

There is another discipline that uses the word 'program'. This discipline does not sit within the project management world. In Program Evaluation, a program refers to the operation of the new world. Its purpose is to evaluate whether and how well the new operation is being executed an how well it is delivering on the benefits that were the basis for why the program was undertaken.

Schools are heavy users of program evaluations. They implement (or are forced to implement) a program to improve the reading abilities of their primary school students. Program evaluation assesses the ongoing success of the program and as appropriate recommends adjustments.