GE 110: Business Logic

BUSINESS LOGIC 1. People who use the system, including

accountants, managers, and business
Is the link in an information system between a user analysts.
interface and a database. Typically, it contains formal 2. Procedure and instructions are the ways that
rules, translated into computer programs that control data are collected, stored, retrieved, and
how data will be processed to achieve the objectives processed
of the information system. 3. Data including all information that goes into
an AIS.
INFORMATION SYTEM
4. Software consists of computer programs
In general perspective, an information system will used for processing data
typically contain the following components: 5. Information technology infrastructure
includes all the hardware used to operate the
 Hardware: computer–based information AIS
systems use computer hardware, such as 6. Internal controls are the security measures
processors, monitors, keyboard and printers. used to protect data.
 Software: these are the programs used to
organize process and analyze data, eg. USER INTERFACE
databases. The user interface is the point of human computer
 Users: different elements of an organizations interaction and communication in a device. This can
need to be connected to each other, include display screens, keyboards, a mouse and the
especially if many different people in the appearance of a desktop. It is also the way through
organization use the same information which a user interacts with an application or a
system. website. The growing dependence of many
 Procedures: these describe how specific data businesses on web applications and mobile
is processed and analyzed in order to get the applications has led many companies to place
answers for which the information system is increased priority on UI in an effort to improve the
designed. user’s overall experience.
Accounting information system Types of user interfaces
is a formal process for collecting data, processing the The various types of user interfaces include:
data into information, and distributing that
information to users. The purpose of an accounting 1. Graphical user interface
information system is to collect, store, and process 2. Command line interface
financial and accounting data and produce 3. Menu-driven user interface
informational reports that can managers or other 4. Touch user interface
interested parties can use to make business decisions. 5. Voice user interface
Although an Ais can be a manual system, today most 6. Form- based user interface
accounting information systems are computer-based. 7. Natural language user interface

Functions of an accounting information system Examples of user interfaces include:

Accounting information systems have three basic 1. Computer mouse

functions. 2. Remote control
3. Virtual reality
1. The first function of an AIS is the efficient 4. Atms
and effective collection and storage of date 5. Speedometer
concerning an organization’s financial 6. The old ipod click wheel
activities, including getting the transaction
data from source documents, recording the DATABASE
transactions in journals, and posting data
A database is a systematic collection of data. They
from journals to ledgers.
support electronic storage and manipulation of data.
2. The second function of an AIS is to supply
Databases make data management easy.
information useful for making decisions,
including producing managerial reports and Types of database
financial statements.
3. The third function of an AIS is to make sure Distributed database: is a type of database that has
controls are in place to accurately record and contributions from the common database and
process data. information captured by local computers. In this type
of database system, the data is not in one place and is
Parts of an accounting information system distributed at various organizations.
An accounting information systems typically has six Relational databases: This type of database defines
basic parts: database relationship in the form of tables. It is also
called relational DBMS, which is the most popular
dBMS type in the market. Database example of the
RDBMS system include Mysql, Oracle, and
Microsoft SQL server database.
Object-oriented database: This type of computers
database supports the storage of all data types. The
data is stored in the form of obj3ects. The objects to
be held in the database have attributes and methods
that define what to do with the data. PostgresSQL is
an example of an object-oriented relational DBMS.
Centralized database: it is a centralized location, and
users from different backgrounds can access this data.
This type of computers databases store application
procedures that help users access the data even from
a remote location
Open-source databases: This kind of database stored
information related to operations. It is mainly used in
the field of marketing, employee relations, customers
service, of databases.
Cloud databases: is a database which is optimized or
built for such a virtualized environment. There are so
many advantages of a cloud database, some of which
can pay for storage capacity and bandwidth. It also
offers scalability on-demand, along with high
availability.
Data warehouse: is to facilitate a single version of
truth for a company for decision making and
forecasting. A data warehouse is an information
system that contains historical and commutative data
from single or multiple sources. Data warehouse
concept simplifies the reporting and analysis process
of the organization.
Personal database: is used to store data stored on
personal computers that are smaller and easily
manageable. The data is mostly used by the same
department of the company and is accessed by a
small group of people.
BUSINESS RULES
In general, business rules define specific instructions
or constraints on how certain day to day actions
should be performed. For example, business rules can
include:
1. A decision-making approval structure for
invoice processing where only certain
managers can sign off on invoices totaling a
specific amount.
2. Calculations in which a formula may be
used to calculate revenue or expenses.
3. Policies where an organization requires its
employees to work with a preferred list of
vendors.
Common types of business rules.
To account for different types of policies and
decisions, business rules can be modeled in multiple
ways. Two common types of business rules are
formula rules and decision table rules.
 A formula rule allows employees to
maintain calculations in a no code format
similar to creating formulas in ms excel.
Once a formula is defined, it can be reused
as appropriate in multiple process designs. If
the formula needs to be updated, only the
formula itself needs to be changed without
requiring an end user to manipulate code or
individually adjust each applicable process.
 A decision table rules, is a powerful feature
that lets non developers represent related
conditional decisions or if-then logic in
concise manner as a spreadsheet style table.
Decision tables use column as the
conditions, while rows specify the
appropriate outcomes. Approvals,
application acceptance criteria, and loan
eligibility checks are all general examples
where decisions tables can be applied and
owned by a domain expert themselves.
Workflow
is a sequence of tasks that processes a set of data.
Workflow occur across every kind of business and
industry. Anytime data is passed between humans
and or systems, a workflow is created. Workflow are
the paths that describe how something goes being
undone to done or raw to processed.
Software
is a collection of data or computer instructions that
tell the computer how to work. Based on the goal,
computer software can be divided into:
1. Application software: is a type of computer
program that performs a specific personal,
educational, and business function. Each
program is designed to assist the user with a
particular process, which may be related to
productivity, creativity, and/or
communication.
Functions of Application Software
Application software programs are created to
facilitate a variety of functions, including but not
limited to:
1. managing information
2. manipulating data
3. constructing visuals
4. coordinating resources
5. calculating figures
Examples of Application Software
The most common application software programs are
used by millions every day and include:
1. Microsoft (Office, Excel, Word,
PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)
2. Internet browsers like Firefox, Safari, and
Chrome
3. Mobile pieces of software such as Pandora
(for music appreciation), Skype (for real-
 time online communication), and Slack (for
team collaboration)
Business application software
is a subset of the application software. These
programs are built to facilitate certain business
functions, improving the accuracy, efficiency, and
effectiveness of operations. Business application
software programs achieve measurable objectives
such as saving work time and enhancing productivity.
Below are some popular examples of business
applications that are commonly used by
organizations:
 Enterprise Resource Planning: A type of
business software used by companies –
usually via a bundle of integrated
applications – to solicit, review, store,
manipulate, and analyze data derived from a
variety of business operations.
 Customer Relationship Management: also,
to manage customer interaction and facilitate
the sales process and relevant partner
relationships.
 Database: An electronic arsenal of data that
a user builds in order to later access, review,
and update particular pieces of information
in a rapid and coherent manner.
 Project Management Software: A type of
business software designed to plan and
execute projects, and to manage the
resources associated with those projects. PM
software assists users with functions such as
scheduling, assigning tasks, managing
budgets and costs, documenting progress,
and reporting results.
 Business Process Management: Designed to
facilitate rapid development and automation
of strategic processes. Uses web-based
modeling, rule creation, and a simple
interface to enable the user to perform
business functions more quickly. Usually
optimized for mobile devices and offering
total visibility into operations, BPM
software is helpful in managing and
analyzing complex data, content, and
processes across the enterprise.
 Productivity Software: Helps users do their
jobs more efficiently and complete work-
related tasks in a timely manner. Categories
include document creation, database
management, accounting and collaboration.
Applications that an organization uses for
overall productivity are sometimes referred
to together as a software or application
stack.
 Resource Management Software: A type of
business software that facilitates the
management of multiple projects and
resources and ensures that everything is
allocated effectively in real time
 Time Management Software: A type of
business software that tracks how an
individual’s digital systems are used,
including how long the user spends working
in certain applications.
 Educational Software: A type of software
that facilitates the teaching and learning of
new content, concepts, or processes.
Popular Application Software Add-Ons
1. Word Processor: a piece of application
software that allows the user to create edit,
format, and print written documents
2. Scheduling Software: a type of business
software that helps an organization allocate
resources, assign shifts, and understand
exactly who is working and what individuals
are paid for that work
3. Spreadsheet: a computer-based document
that displays data in a grid format and allows
the user to enter and manipulate data, and to
perform accounting functions.
2. System software: is a type of computer program
that is designed to run a computer's hardware and
application programs. If we think of the computer
system as a layered model, the system software is the
interface between the hardware and user applications.
The operating system is the best-known example of
system software. The OS manages all the other
programs in a computer. System software is used to
manage the computer itself. It runs in the
background, maintaining the computer's basic
functions so users can run higher-level application
software to perform certain tasks.
Types of system software
System software manages the computer's basic
functions, including the disk operating system, file
management utility software and operating systems.
Other examples of system software include the
following:
A complete picture of the software stack. System
software includes the firmware through the OS levels
of this model.
 The BIOS (basic input/output system) gets
the computer system started after it's turned
on and manages the data flow between the
OS and attached devices, such as the hard
drive, video adapter, keyboard, mouse and
printer.
 An assembler takes basic computer
instructions and converts them into a pattern
of bits that the computer's processor can use
to perform its basic operations.
 A device driver controls a particular type of
device that is attached to your computer,
such as a keyboard or mouse. The driver
 program converts the more general I/O
instructions of the OS to messages that the
device type can understand.
Operating systems
The computer's OS is a well-known example of
system software. Widely used operating systems
include Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux.
Important tasks performed by the operating system
The main responsibility of the operating system is to
manage a computer's software and hardware
resources. It is the computer's main control program.
The OS controls and maintains a record of all other
programs on the computer, including both application
and system software. The OS creates an environment
that all other computer programs run within and
provides service to those other applications.
Five of the most important ones are the following:
 File management and process scheduling:
The OS allocates resources and prioritizes
which programs should receive the resources
and in what order.
 Processor and memory management: The
OS allocates the computer's memory to a
process when needed and deallocates it
when the process is finished.
 Error detection: The OS detects, tracks and
debugs errors in the computer's other
programs.
 Security: The OS uses passwords to protect
the computer's programs and data from
unauthorized access.
 Control and management: The OS use
compilers, assemblers and interpreters to
control and manage other programs on the
computer.
Difference between system software and application
software
System software and application programs are the
two main types of computer software. Unlike system
software, application software -- often just called an
application or app -- performs a particular function
for the end user. Some examples of application
software include the following:
1. web browsers
2. email clients
3. word processors
4. spreadsheets
System software and application software are also
triggered differently. System software is generally
triggered when a computer or device is turned on, and
it remains on until the device is powered down.
Application software is triggered by an end user after
the computer is turned on. Application software
needs system software to function, whereas system
software can run independently of application
software.
Other types of user interfaces can include:
 Form-based user interface: Used to enter
data into a program or application by
offering a limited selection of choices. For
example, a settings menu on a device is
form-based.
 Graphical user interface: A tactile UI input
with a visual UI output (keyboard and
monitor).
 Menu-driven user interface: A UI that uses a
list of choices to navigate within a program
or website. For example, ATMs use menu-
driven UIs and are easy for anyone to use.
 Touch user interface: User interface through
haptics or touch. Most smartphones, tablets
and any device that operates using a touch
screen use haptic input.
 Voice user interface: Interactions between
humans and machines using auditory
commands. Examples include virtual
assistant devices, talk-to-text, GPS and
much more.
Why is user interface important?
It is important to meet user expectations and
support the effective functionality of your site. A
well-executed user interface facilitates effective
interaction between the user and the program,
app or machine through contrasting visuals,
clean design and responsiveness.
More specifically, here are the most important
overarching elements of a great UI:
Information architecture: The functionality of a
site is built according to the IA. Structuring and
organizing your website's content in a logical
way is important to help users navigate the site
with minimal effort. Components of IA include
three main types of organizational structures:
hierarchical (level of importance), sequential
(logical order of steps) and matrix (in which the
user chooses the organization of the content they
see).
Example: Navigation elements (buttons, tabs,
icons), labels (terminology), search features
(search bar) and organization systems
(categories).
Interactive design: Elements of ID aim to turn
passive readers into active participants by
presenting instances of user input. Keeping the
user in mind while creating the UI will help to
improve the interactivity and execution of
specific behaviors that satisfy user needs.
Additionally, efficiently-designed interactive UIs
can 'learn' to anticipate and remedy any problems
that may come up before they negatively impact
the user's experience.
Example: Social-share features, toggles, buttons.
 Visual design: The importance of your site's
aesthetic value cannot be underestimated.
Effective design utilizes color, contrast, font,
video and photo elements to attract visitors and
make it easy for them to read and works with the
content, rather than around it, to create a logical,
intuitive flow of functionality.
Example: Contrast, color, white space,
typography, mobile optimization.
What is the difference between user interface and
user experience?
User interface and user experience are related
and equally important to the execution of a
project, but the specifics differ. Mainly, UI is
designed around the intended look and feel of
the site, app or program while UX spans the
entire process of conceptualization, development
and delivery. Additionally, UX can be referenced
in relation to nearly any product, while UI can
only pertain to digital products.
The main differences between UX and UI are:
UX revolves around the purpose and
functionality of the product, while UI focuses on
the quality of the user's interaction with the
product.
UX involves components such as market
research and identifying user needs, while UI has
more artistic design components relating to the
look and feel of the user's experience.
UX focuses on overall project management from
ideation through development and delivery,
while UI more specifically focuses on the design
of the finished product.
Designing a user experience begins by
identifying the pain points of the target users and
figuring out how to meet the needs of said users.
This includes details such as logical flows or
steps to take to reach a goal. Once the interface is
programmed to be useful, the prototype is sent to
a user interface designer, where the processes are
made visually appealing.
Developing a user experience includes:
1. Overall execution and goal-tracking
2. Coordination with developers and UI
designers
3. Integration and analytics
4. Content or product strategy
5. Wireframing, planning, prototyping,
development, testing
Developing a user interaction includes:
1. Look and feel of the site/app/program
2. Branding and design research
3. Responsive adaptation
4. Interactivity, animation
5. Implementation
Definition of business rules
 A business rule defines or constrains some
aspect of business and always resolves to
either true or false. It specifically involves
terms, facts and rules.  
 intended to assert business structure or to
control or influence the behavior of the
business. 
 describe the operations, definitions and
constraints that apply to an organization. 
 can apply to people, processes, corporate
behavior and computing systems in an
organization, and are put in place to help the
organization achieve its goals. Even though
a system of strategic processes governs
business rules, business rules are not
strategic themselves; they are directive. 
For example:
 A business rule might state that no credit
check is to be performed on return
customers.
 Requiring a rental agent to disallow a rental
tenant if their credit rating is too low, or
requiring company agents to use a list of
preferred suppliers and supply schedules
 A decision-making approval structure for
invoice processing where only certain
managers can sign off on invoices totaling a
specific amount
 Calculations in which a formula may be
used to calculate revenue or expenses
 Policies where an organization requires its
employees to work with a preferred list of
vendors
 A series of required questions that if an
answer is no, a certain vendor is excluded
from a particular partnership opportunity
 Calculations to determine bonus potential
and payouts for sales personnel
A business rule may be informal or even
unwritten, documenting the rules clearly and
making sure that they don't conflict is a valuable
activity. When carefully managed, rules can be
used to help the organization to better achieve
goals, remove obstacles to market growth, reduce
costly mistakes, improve communication,
comply with legal requirements, and increase
customer loyalty. Business rules can also be
applied to software, like computing systems.
This software helps business organize and
achieve their goals by using business rules
and business logic.
Business Rules vs strategy
Business rules tell an organization what it can do
in detail, while strategy tells it how to focus the
business at a macro level to optimize results. Put
differently, a strategy provides high-level
direction about what an organization should do.
 Business rules provide detailed guidance about
how a strategy can be translated to action.
Business rules exist for an organization whether
or not they are ever written down, talked about or
even part of the organization's consciousness.
However, it is a fairly common practice for
organizations to gather business
rules.
Gathering business rules is also called rules
harvesting or business rule mining. The business
analyst or consultant can extract the rules from
IT documentation (like use cases, specifications
or system code). They may also organize
workshops and interviews with subject matter
experts (commonly abbreviated as SMEs).
Software technologies designed to capture
business rules through analysis of legacy source
code or of actual user behavior can accelerate the
rule gathering processing.
Types of business rules
There are several assertions to be kept in mind
when one is trying to define types of business
rules:
 A structural assertion is where facts are
portrayed as the structure of an
enterprise and are used to make
decisions.
 Action assertions outline constraints and
conditions that control the actions of the
business in some sort of way.
 A derivation is additional knowledge
that stems from original knowledge
about the business.
Keeping these assertions in mind, business rules can
be divided into one of three types:
 Coordination rules: rules set in place that are
a general requirement that has to be met
before continuing. The rules are geared to
make sure the company keeps progressing
without re-work.
 Qualification/disqualification rules: these
rules are used to determine which subjects
should be included and which ones should
not. It's basically filtering and preventing
wasted time and effort.
 Decision rules: this rule is used when a
subject need to be sent back for more
information, approved, or rejected.
Definitions of business terms
The most basic element of a business rule is the
language used to express it. The very definition of a
term is itself a business rule that describes how
people think and talk about things. Thus, defining a
term is establishing a category of business rule.
Terms have traditionally been documented in a
Glossary or as entities in a conceptual model.
Facts: can be documented as natural language
sentences or as relationships, attributes, and
generalization structures in a graphical model.
Constraints (also called "action assertions")
Every enterprise constrains behavior in some way,
and this is closely related to constraints on what data
may or may not be updated. To prevent a record from
being made is, in many cases, to prevent an action
from taking place.
Derivations
Business rules (including laws of nature) define how
knowledge in one form may be transformed into
other knowledge, possibly in a different form. Real
world applications and obstacles Business rules are
gathered in these situations:
1. When dictated by law
2. During the business analysis
3. As an ephemeral aid to engineers
A practical approach that can be used to define
business requirements for business rules and
decisions. It focuses on 3 aspects that you need to
define as a requirement for a business rule: How,
where and what.
Step 1 How: How should the business rule work?
This first step is to gather the relevant knowledge
sources that can help specify how the decision is
made and how the business rule should work. For
example: policies, regulation, sources of expertise
and best practices on which the business rule is
based.
Step 2 Where: Where does the business rule apply?
The second step is to define where the business rule
applies. This question should be answered from a
business perspective. Therefore, the best way to
determine this requirement is to indicate as part of
which business process (step) the business rule needs
to be described.
Step 3 What: What information is necessary to
execute the business rule?
The final step is about data. A business rule is based
on a combined set of information or data elements.
For example, the business rule for whether an
insurance claim is accepted, depends on the amount
claimed and the payment behavior of the customer.
Next steps
If you describe these three aspects together, this
forms a complete set of requirements for the business
rule. A business rule designer can use this
information as input to make a detailed design of the
business rule.
Why is rule independence important to you? Because
rules entangled in procedural code won’t ever be
agile. Rules change all the time- and in a digital
world the pace of change is always accelerating. How
you can stay on top of it is the central question in
business agility.
Decisions- suppose you want dynamic pricing, taking
into account multiple factors about the customer, the
product, the current demand and supply, size of the
order, etc. What better way to organize the business
logic than as a set of rules?
Case management- businesses often organize
activities around concepts that have predictable
stages or states. A classic example is the medical case
of a patient. The same thinking, however, pops up in
a great many situations-for example, products
developed in stages, orders that progress through
predictable states, complaints, inquiries, break
downs, purchases, etc.
Data quality- if you want high data quality, it must
reflect business results produced correctly int he first
place. Business rules help ensure that happens by
guiding business behavior. Think about it this way:
processes only ensure you do the correct things;
business rules ensure you do those things correctly.
Digitalization- Even in today’s world, many gaps
remain in processes where manual intervention is still
required, sometimes as basic as simply moving data
from one form or format to another. It the past few
years, robotic process automation has stepped up to
this challenge by offering effective rule-based
solutions.
Communication. In a day and age when IT is also
central to running business, it’s simply unacceptable
that communication gaps still exist between the
business side and IT.
Knowledge retention. In traditional companies,
retirement of key subject matter experts is a hard
reality. In newer companies, the turnover rate of
workers is unprecedented. How do you capture core
knowledge in such form that it is not lost when
workers walk out the door?
Mystery of business rules
Unfortunately, business rules often are a mystery in
business. Most of time they are undocumented and
worst they are a figment of someone’s imagination-
no basis.
Quality = testing=business rules
Business rules are the basis for informing the quality
of requirements and processes. Quality unfortunately
is invisible, but testing makes quality visible. Testing
is how we validate that the business rules, constraints,
obligations, and decisions, are enforced. Without
testing the quality of the product or process remains
in question.
Challenging business rules
Business rules are like perishables, they need to be
checked for freshness and validity. Few rules are
eternal like, you don’t…
 Spit in the wind
 Pull on superman’s cape
 Yank off the lone ranger’s mask
Most rules need to be challenged because their basis
may not be valid and the fact that ecosystem changes
and therefore business rules may be outdated. Besides
that, the changing of the business rule may allow you
to gain an improvement without a process or software
change, let’s amplify this point via another more
detailed example.
The Importance of Business Logic
The term we use to describe the organizing and
policing of your data is Business Logic. The business
logic of your system is made up of business rules.
Each business rule is a constraint or rule imposed on
your data for application functionality that is a result
of real-world business requirements.
The Four Pillars of Business Logic
Business logic can be divided into four different
categories. When designing your business logic,
consider how these four pillars apply to your business
rules.
Data Consistency
This is where the classic transactions belong. When
one value changes, other changes to maintain
consistency. The example is a bank transfer: when
money is removed from one account, it needs to be
deposited into another account. The consistency also
means that if the deposit into the second account
fails, the money removed from the first account needs
to go someplace, most likely back into the first
account.
View Control
You don’t want all your users to see all the data. That
is where view control comes in. View control
business rules regulate what data users can see.
Generally, this comes down to limiting users to
specific rows and columns in tables. A user might
only be allowed to see the rows relating to their sales
data, but not the columns that track information only
visible to their manager.
Modification Control
Most likely, not all users will be allowed to modify
all the data in your system, or even all the data they
can view. For example, your end users should
probably not add or modify states or countries. It is
typically much easier to restrict user’s modification
control based on tables, but it gets more interesting
when you need to restrict modification control for
specific rows or columns in a table. For example, if a
user can only modify sales records in their assigned
region.
Secondary Actions
When one action leads to another, that is a secondary
action. In database speak this is a trigger. A common
example is logging – if you need to keep
track of each change.
Implementing Business Logic
The great thing about all these business rules is that
they change frequently. Some of them more often
than others. One solution is storing all the business
rules in the database. This has the advantage of being
able to change them without deploying a new client,
it has the disadvantage that
any interactions of the client require a round trip to
the database to know if they are legal. Additionally,
having a database system robust enough to handle the
kind of business logic necessary for a real-world
application is usually really expensive to license and
maintain.