brDoc, BREX, and Co.: S1000D Business Rules Made Easier

By Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

Are you implementing S1000D? If so, then business rules will no doubt be in big, bold letters on your to-do list. But how should you address them, when there are literally hundreds of decision points to consider?
This little book offers nineteen articles that break down this complex concept into more digestible "bites." Some explanations are repeated in various articles, to help refresh your memory in case you decide to take longer breaks between each "tasting" of information.
By the end of this book you will have a better understanding of S1000D business rules, and the structures that support them, and they will finally become much less overwhelming to address.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victoria Ichizli-Bartels
• Release date: Jun 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386061809

Book preview

brDoc, BREX, and Co.:

S1000D Business Rules Made Easier

Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

brDoc, BREX, and Co.:

S1000D Business Rules Made Easier

1st Edition

Copyright © 2018 Victoria Ichizli-Bartels

The material, written by the author of this book and serving as its content, was initially published as a series of blog posts under the name Bitesize business rules by Mekon Ltd on http://aerospace-defence.com/news/bitesize-business-rules/. Mekon Ltd granted Victoria Ichizli-Bartels all rights to the material she created for the blog post series Bitesize business rules on their website aerospace-defence.com.

Used with permission.

The general Business Rules definition in chapter 3 - What are Business Rules? and other indicated parts in this book originate from Take Control of Your Business: Learn What Business Rules Are, Find Out That You Already Know and Use Them, Then Update Them Regularly to Maximize Your Business Success written and published by the author of this book in 2017.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All necessary rights reserved.

The author is not a lawyer. This book and the content provided herein are simply for guidance and educational purposes, and do not take the place of legal advice from your attorney. Every effort has been made to ensure that the content provided in this book is accurate and helpful. However, this is not an exhaustive resource on the subjects covered in this book. No liability is assumed for losses or damages due to the information provided. You are responsible for your own choices, actions, and results. You should consult your attorney for your specific project questions and needs.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author.

Cover design by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels and Alice Jago

Front and e-book cover image ©iStock.com/AVTG

Photograph of Victoria Ichizli-Bartels by ©Click Aalborg

The S1000D™ and S1000D® are registered trademarks owned by ASD (AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe). These and other trademarks occurring in the text of this book are mentioned only for clarification and reference purposes. They are proprietary to their owners and are not affiliated with this book in any way.

optimistwriter.com

For Susanne.

Thank you for suggesting that I write the Bitesize Business Rules series.

It was a revealing and fun adventure, with many epiphanies along the way.

Introduction

Welcome to brDoc, BREX, and Co.: S1000D Business Rules Made Easier!

If you’ve ever seen the S1000D® specification text, you might be skeptical about the word easier in the subtitle of this book. Many would agree that there is nothing easy about S1000D business rules.

About two years ago, I was invited by Susanne Berg from Mekon Ltd to write short monthly articles for a series they called Bitesize Business Rules. The idea was to share tips, tricks, and insights into S1000D Business Rules in small, digestible chunks.

As I wrote this series, bit by bit, or in other words bite by bite, I realized that the whole, initially overwhelming, topic does become less daunting when processed gradually, and if not completely easy, then it was definitely easier than before.

Feedback from readers of the online article series was positive - the contents clearly resonated with them, and many felt that it helped them to grasp the topic better than ever before.

This book is an updated and professionally edited version of this series on business rules.

Here you will learn what business rules are and why they are vital. You will find out which of the chapters in S1000D is a must-read before starting to define your project and your organization’s business rules.

You will become acquainted with two XML Schemas providing a full set of tools to capture, maintain, exchange, and apply business rules for the capture, maintenance, and transfer of technical data.

I recommend that you read this book as it was intended and initially written, one article at a time, and give yourself a little time in-between to digest those business rules bites.

A note before we continue: for simplicity and readability purposes I have omitted the < and > brackets from the element names. I have only reserved them when quoting from the specification.

1 – The Backstory

This chapter relates how I got my start working with S1000D business rules.

A note beforehand: This chapter is the reproduction of a part of the preface of the book Take Control of Your Business: Learn What Business Rules Are, Find Out That You Already Know and Use Them, Then Update Them Regularly to Maximize Your Business Success, which I published in March 2017.

My experience with business rules had its beginning in May 2004, when I started working for German Defense in their Logistics Department. It expanded in June 2004 when I joined my first meeting of an S1000D working group. S1000D is an international specification used for