Roland Hernandez posted an insightful blog regarding Business Rules Engines. I like how Roland describes a BRMS as a RBMS (Rulesbase Management System). It makes a lot of sense and is easier to understand. Developers and business process owners can use a Rulesbase to help manage business rules. Imagine a logical tool used to manipulate business rules and processes which can be translated to a physical rules mark-up file(http://www.ruleml.org/) and published to the rulesbase. Hmmm…seems strangely similar to BizTalk Rules Engine and Visio add-in for BizTalk (http://msdn.microsoft.com/biztalk/community/webcasts/default.aspx).
Finally, Roland predicts that the industry is only a year or two away from a rulesbase tool that can be used by executives. I wonder if the Microsoft Office team will add a new product to the Office suite like Roland suggests. LOL. Microsoft Rules for Office has a nice ring to it.
One of the most difficult challenges of any application development effort is accuratly capturing the business processes and rules. Adding a Business Rules engine application to the MS Office Suite that can be used by business people makes a lot of sense. I think Roland is on target with this prediction.