DaveBirchall.com on Business Technology

Archive for August 20th, 2008

Automation:  “the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum. ”

Business Logic: “the underlying system of reasoning used to actualize business intent”

Business Logic Automation:  “The process of automating business logic creation, modification, verification, distribution, and application”

Business logic automation is about putting people in control with applications that are built for change. Knowing that change is coming and knowing what a change will be are two different things.  Most of us know that it will rain at some point in the next month.  What we don’t know is exactly when.  How can this be automated?  Should we wait until it is raining to go to the store and purchase an umbrella?  Or do we carry an umbrella with us in case we need it?  The latter is a more automated response model for reacting to changes in the weather.  Automation requires planning for change and the respective transaction costs associated with reacting to it.  In many respects, going to development every time a predictable business requirement change occurs is like going to the store for an umbrella every time it rains. We might not know what the interest rate will be in six months, but we do know it will change at some point, and building a solution that minimizes the transaction cost of making the required software change is what business logic automation is all about.

In terms of business logic, the automation we are talking about is the automation of the change implementation process itself.  The business logic, even if hardcoded, is still automated from the standpoint of it being applied at runtime.  We are at the point where the change process is what needs to be automated next.  Business logic automation puts business users at the helm of application business logic, without the expensive iterative back and forth between analysts and developers.

Many business logic implementations today operate via a human-intensive process which is plagued with handoffs and expensive iterations of trial and error.  Automating business logic addresses these difficulties through a series of tools and services tailored to each activity in the business logic life cycle.

There’s a really neat feature in Word 2007 that I thought I would give a wurl. It’s simple but effective and it allows you to blog off line directly into word. This is great for me because the most convenient time to post is on the way to work on the train. You can blog to your wordpress account after entering a few settings and you’re off.

Here goes! Further information is available here