This week, ILOG, Inc. of Mountain View, CA will ship ILOG Rules for .NET, a business rule management system (BRMS) that integrates with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development tools, and Microsoft SharePoint collaboration technologies. The upshot is that users can change a system-wide rule using Microsoft Word, and developers can apply those rules to the applications they build.

A Business Rule Management System helps takes business policies and build them into rules that can be embedded into software as procedures that can be changed, added, or deleted quickly and easily.

ILOG Rules for .NET is in version 1.0 because it was just built from the ground up for .NET, says the company, but it is founded on the experience of the makers of JRules, the business rule system written in Java, introduced in 1997 and now in version 5.0.

With ILOG Rules for .NET, the user "writes the rules in something like English, and presses a button," according to Henry Bowers, ILOG Director of Product Marketing for Business Rule Management Systems. Users change rules only; they don't touch the application. The company claims an increase in business response time to challenges by allowing business users — not just IT staff — to modify rules in real time, helping business adapt quickly to changing regulations, customer demands, and competitive threats.

Eric Hebert is a Senior Software Developer for 20/20 Technologies in Quebec, which makes software for designing kitchens and baths. One target for the company's software is large home centers, where commercial customers decide what hardware to buy (with closets and the like) using electronic catalogs. "It can cost millions of dollars if [the client has] an error in a design," says Hebert. The ILOG business rules validate the designs for errors.

Herbert, who tested the beta version of ILOG Rules for .NET, "[P]laced shelves in the design software, and special hardware." Hebert claims the tool saved an hour to an hour and a half per complete closet, with precise layout and hundreds of pieces. Says Herbert, "Even if you only save eighty percent of the time, you might save fifty million dollars by saving time and saving errors in the design. You might forget something until the end of the design, then, in real time, you get a final report with errors."

His industry has several policies and guidelines for correct design, which must be followed. For example, explains Hebert, " the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) has a rule to not put a dishwasher more than 36" away from a sink, because the cords aren't longer than 36". ILOG is part of the 20/20 product as plug-ins. It's reliable, flexible and easy to manage and maintain, since the rules are integrated. You can automate some parts of the software. It's very fast — you don't have to recompile every time you use the plug-ins."

There are several modules to ILOG Rules, and Rule Solution for Office has a plug-in for Word. Bowers says the software brings up new functions on the right side of the screen when the user is in a Rule.doc. "It looks like English 'If... then... else....'" says Bowers. "Click on a word, and you get to pick from a list of actions."

ILOG Rule Studio for .NET is a set of plug-ins for Visual Studio .NET that allows developers to author, test, and deploy business rules using third party C#, VB.NET, or C++.

ILOG Rule Team Server for SharePoint is built on top of Windows SharePoint Services and facilitates sharing and collaboration of business rules, and takes advantage of meeting workspaces, user presence, discussion boards, tasks and alerts. ILOG's rules repository integrates with SharePoint to act as a central storage for all business rules across an organization, to ensure consistency.

Hebert says, "It's easier to talk with the policy managers with SharePoint. And, if they want to change the value of the policy, they can change them in Word. They will have a history in Word."

Hebert also likes the integration with Visual Studio. "It's better than having two different windows — and the help is integrated," he says. "Just put the cursor on a word and choose help — and you have all the information on everything."

According to ILOG, the Rule Engine for .NET integrates seamlessly with any .NET application.