Integrating a rules engine with integration services
Introduction As I have mentioned in several previous posts, I have been working on a data warehouse project. One of my main roles within this project was to work with our clients JRules / Java consultants to help integrate IBM JRules, a rules engine, with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: Integration Services (SSIS). The goal of the integration was to have the rules engine as part of the ETL process to help evaluate business rules. The reasons to use a rules engine within the ETL process were as follows: To allow business people to write the business rules for the data warehouse in a language they know: English To give the business people the responsibility for maintaining the rules to ensure that the data warehouse is up to date. To be able to update the rules without having to deploy the entire ETL solution. IBM JRules was used within the project because it was already in use within their organisation. The challenge was how to cross the divide between Java and Microsoft .Net...