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Business Rules Check

The Business Rules Check Processor

The Business Rules Check processor enables users to check data against a set of business rules, which can be defined and maintained outside of OEDQ. Validation errors can be output for each record checked.

Use

The Business Rules Check processor is used to apply potentially complex validation rules to data in a single processor. The business rules can be defined in reference data or in an external file, allowing the rules to be maintained externally to OEDQ.

Configuration

Inputs

The processor accepts:

A set of attributes of any type to be validated by the processor, and
A single attribute containing an array of rule IDs to be applied to the attributes. If this array is not supplied, all the rules in the rules document will be applied to the reference data.

Please see the Defining Business Rules topic for information on how to define business rules.

Options

Option	Type	Purpose	Default Value
Configuration Source	Selection (XLS File/ Reference Data)	To specify the type of the configuration source.	XLS File
File Name (only available when XLS File is in use)	Selection	To specify the file which contains the business rule configuration.	None
Rules (only available when Reference Data is in use)	Reference data	To specify the reference data containing the Rules configuration for the processor.	None
Conditions (only available when Reference Data is in use)	Reference data	To specify the reference data containing the Conditions configuration for the processor.	None
Checks (only available when Reference Data is in use)	Reference data	To specify the reference data containing the Checks configuration for the processor.	None

If an Excel file is used to define the business rules, it must be placed in the [Install Path]/config/businessrules directory, where [Install Path] represents the root of your OEDQ installation, and must conform to the format specified in the Defining Business Rules topic.

Specifying Identifiers

Identifiers are used to map the input attributes of the Business Rules Check processor onto the attribute tags referenced in the business rules document. The mappings between identifiers and attributes are defined on the Identify tab of the Business Rules Check processor dialog:

For each identifier, select the appropriate input attribute from the drop-down on the right.

Note:Unmapped identifiers are treated differently by the Business Rules Check processor, depending on the context.

If an identifier which has no mapped input attribute is used in a rule, that rule will be ignored.
If an identifier with no mapped input attribute is used in a condition, the condition is assumed to evaluate to TRUE.

Outputs

Data attributes

Data attribute	Type	Purpose	Value
ErrorCodes	Added	Stores the error codes generated by validating the record.	An array of the error codes associated with the business rules which failed for the record. The error codes are defined as part of the business rule configuration.
ErrorSeverities	Added	Stores the severities of the errors generated by validating the record.	An array of the error severities associated with the business rules which failed for the record. The error codes are defined as part of the business rule configuration.
ErrorMessages	Added	Stores the error messages generated by validating the record.	An array of the error messages associated with the business rules which failed for the record. The error codes are defined as part of the business rule configuration.

Flags

Flag attribute	Purpose	Possible Values
RulePass	Indicates whether or not the record passed all of the validation rules.	Y/N
RuleFailures	Indicates the number of rules that failed for the record.	Integer
RuleFailureIDs	Indicates, by ID, the rules which failed for the record.	Array of rule IDs corresponding to the rules which failed for the record.
RuleFailureLabels	Indicates, by label, the rules which failed for the record.	Array of rule labels corresponding to the rules which failed for the record.
AttributeNames	Indicates, by name, the attributes which caused validation to fail for the record.	Array of attribute names which caused the rules to fail for the record.

Publication to Dashboard

Result	Dashboard Interpretation
Pass	Pass
Fail	Alert

Execution

Execution Mode	Supported
Batch	Yes
Real time Monitoring	Yes
Real time Response	Yes

Note:This processor always appears with a re-run marker, indicating that it will be completely re-executed each time the process is run, regardless of whether or not its configuration has changed. This will also mean that processors that are downstream of the processor will need to be rerun. This is because there may be changes made outside of the OEDQ application that could lead to different results on subsequent executions.

Results Browsing

The Business Rules Check processor produces a summary view of its results, showing the following statistics:

Statistic	Meaning
Pass	The number of records which passed the logic check
Fail	The number of records which failed the logic check

Output Filters

The following output filters are available from a Logic Check:

Records which passed the business rule check
Records which failed the business rule check

Example

In the example below, the user wishes to use an Excel file called contactDetailsCheck.xls to validate some of the contact details in their customer data:

This file contains rules which check that:

The surname field contains some data;
The surname contains only letters;
That at least one of Town and County is specified in the address;
That the postcode is valid;
That the telephone number is valid.

Summary view

Drilldown on Records Passing Check

Drilldown on Records Failing Check