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Authentication and authorisation together ensure access control.

Business Rules

In the USoft approach, business rules are the primary communication

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How to model a vocabulary successfully

Avoid abstractions if you can

This tip is closely related to : Avoid type concepts if you can.An abstraction is a noun concept for a phenomenon or situation viewed in general, as opposed to: viewed as applying to particular cases. Broadly speaking, abstractions are theory. Particular cases are what you come across in practice. Here are a few abstractions:Abstractions are great for wording general guidelines or policies:"In situations of high demand, branch desk must take all necessary measures to ensure maximum availability.”"Customer privacy must be guaranteed during the completion of every customer transaction.”But abstractions are not good for business rules. Business rules must be practicable. They must really tell people what they should do in a given situation.One big difference is that abstractions don't have a plural form, whereas things applied to multiple cases usually do have a plural form. In other words: business rules work better with countable things, and abstractions are not countable. Contrast:For

Tips: Uniform is better

Apply fact form and guidance form consistently

Make sure you apply fact form and guidance form consistently.Write business rules and advices in guidance form. Write structural rules and definitions in fact form.This tip is a USoft best practice. It is glossing over a detail in SBVR 1.5, namely that SBVR does not exclude definitional rules that are under business jurisdiction. This tip is an attempt to express the close kinship between definitional rules and definitions, given also the possibilities of the USoft Studio tool design. For more, click here.In summary:

How to model a vocabulary successfully

Don't describe how software works

Business rules enthusiasts like to stress that they "bridge the gap between business and IT”. They point out that business rules are all about business conduct and not about IT details, and moreover use natural language that everybody understands, so business rules are ideally suited to keep IT people from getting too technical.But in USoft, we use business rules not only to understand "the business” but also to build a software application with a Rules Engine inside. That application supports, facilitates the business. It is embedded in the business; it is an integral part of it. The distinction between business and IT is not as clear-cut as it first seemed. You don't have the luxury of not needing to talk about software - it's everywhere.So where do you draw the line?A good general tip is: try to talk about what software does, but not about how it works.More specific tips are in the sections below.Human tasks can be delegated to softwareUSoft Studio is based on concepts from Enterpri

How to model a vocabulary successfully

Stepping stones

Speakers of natural language have a whole repertoire of strategies to avoid complexity and make their lives easier. As an author of business rules in natural language, you need to be especially aware of the stepping stone strategy.Stepping stonesYou want to reach the opposite bank of a fast-flowing river. There are many obstacles: slippery pebbles, torn branches, rapids and deep waters, alligators. But there are stepping stones that you either discover or that you organise yourself. With a stepping stone, many obstacles fall away. Many things become simpler just because of 1 thing in the right place that gives you a foothold.There is a mechanism in natural language that is a little like a stepping stone. It's the fact that 1 noun concept can function as a placeholder or umbrella term for a whole structure of interrelated things. Instead of making long sentences and wording all those things, you can just name the placeholder: the stepping stone that makes everything easier.Example 1flig

How to model a vocabulary successfully

Model reality, not data

As business is conducted on a daily basis, new clients are registered, offers are advertised, people sign contracts and send e-mails: business activity leads to communication acts and to data accumulation.In USoft Studio, SBVR models are for business activity. EAR models are for data structure in the supporting USoft software application(s) that you create in USoft Definer. The best SBVR models are about reality and not about data.This essay article will show the subtle differences between the two. It will give you handles for choosing the best model on both sides.This article is about modelling data as an alternative to modelling business activity. It is not about terms, definitions and rules that are simply about data and that you have no alternative for. There is no question that it is valid to have this rule in your model, including the concepts it uses:SBVR models and EAR models comparedDon't feel that in your USoft Studio vocabulary (your SBVR model), you have to model everything

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Creating a multi-lingual USoft (web-) applicationTutorial

This article is about making a USoft application multilingual, especially a USoft web application.For a detailed "How to”, download: "Multilingualism in USoft Web Designer applications"

Tips: Be definite

Avoid difficult words

Avoid difficult words if there is a plain alternative:

Tips: Be definite

Use plain words

Avoid administrative, roundabout phrases if there is a plain alternative:

Tips: Be definite

Avoid uncertainty and unnecessary nuances

Do not use words or phrases that introduce uncertainty or unnecessary nuances:

Tips: Shorter is better

Avoid considered as, treated as

In definitions and structural rules, you never need ...considered (as)…, ...treated (as) … :

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