Glossary

Term

Definition

anomaly

irregularity or abnormality

business rule

a rule that is under business jurisdiction

case

a particular situation

case in scope

any case that satisfies the considerations used to establish scope for an operational business decision

completeness

the state of decision logic in which there are no missing rules (omissions) for any case in scope

concept model

the semantic blueprint of a structured business vocabulary

consideration

a factor in making an operational business decision; something that can be resolved to two or more cases

crosstab (representation) style (of decision tables)

see intersection-style

decision

a determination requiring know-how or expertise; the resolving of a question by identifying some correct or optimal choice

decision analysis

identifying and analyzing some key question arising in day-to-day business activity and capturing the decision logic used to answer the question

decision box

a means to organize specifications pertaining to one or more decision tables

decision cell

a cell in a decision table where an outcome appears

decision logic

the set of all decision rules for cases in scope

decision rule

a business rule that guides the making of an operational business decision; specifically, a business rule that links a case to some appropriate outcome

decision table

a structured means of visualizing decision rules in rows and columns

declarative

constituting an expression or representation that can be either true or false

default
(decision rule)

a decision rule or set of decision rules that supplies the appropriate outcome(s) for omissions in a decision table

disjoint (cases)

not overlapping

elemental case

a case produced from a single consideration

exception

see exceptional case

exceptional case

a case in scope that does not use the considerations of a standard case; i.e., a case in scope that is based on some consideration(s) that is/are not among the considerations for a standard case

exhaustive

covering all possible cases in scope

inductive reasoning

reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal

intersection case

a case representing a combination of one elemental case from each of two or more considerations

intersection-style (format of decision table)

using both columns and rows of a decision table to represent two or more considerations and their elemental cases with appropriate outcomes in intersection cells

know-how

accumulated practical skill or expertness; especially technical knowledge, ability, skill, or expertness of this sort

omission (in decision logic)

an anomaly in decision logic where some case in scope is not addressed by any rule

one-rule-per-cell (format of decision table)

see intersection-style (format of decision table)

one-rule-per-column (format of decision table)

the row-or-column-style that uses only columns to represent entire decision rules

one-rule-per-row (format of decision table)

the row-or-column-style that uses only rows to represent entire decision rules

operational business decision

a determination requiring operational business know-how or expertise; the resolving of an operational business question by identifying some correct or optimal choice

outcome

a potential outcome that is deemed appropriate for some case

potential outcome

some result, conclusion, or answer that might be deemed appropriate for some case addressed by some decision

procedural

an expression or representation meant to be included in a series of other expressions or representations to specify a procedure

restriction (for decision table)

a business rule that directly governs the integrity (correctness) of a decision table

row-or-column-style (format of decision table)

using only the physical columns or the physical rows of a decision table to represent all considerations and their elemental cases plus appropriate outcomes — i.e., entire decision rules

rule

a guide for conduct or action; a standard on which a decision or judgment may be based

scope item
(decision table)

a factor along with some explicit cases identified externally to a decision table to which the decision table is deemed applicable

single-hit
(principle for decision tables)

ensuring strict logical uniqueness of intersection cases in row-or-column-style decision tables

single-sourcing

specifying a business rule only once no matter how many places are affected (e.g., cells in a decision table) or the rule is deployed

standard case

a case in scope that is regular or common, and cannot be excluded from normal treatment or rejected out-of-hand

structured business vocabulary

the set of terms and their definitions, and all wordings, that organize operational business know-how

TableSpeak

the Business Rule Solutions, LLC (BRS) set of conventions, guidelines and techniques for representing decision tables in the most business-friendly fashion

wrapper rule (statement)

the semantics (meaning) of a decision table expressed in the form of a rule that indicates how the decision table should be interpreted — i.e., how to 'read' it