Decision Management Systems: A Practical Guide to Using Business Rules and Predictive Analytics

Foreword by Deepak Advani xv Foreword by Pierre Haren xviii Preface xix Acknowledgments xxiii Part I The Case for Decision Management Systems 1 Chapter 1 Decision Management Systems Are Different 3 Agile 4 Analytic 8 Adaptive 15 Chapter 2 Your Business Is Your Systems 19 Changing Expectations 20 Changing Scale 23 Changing Interactions 25 Chapter 3 Decision Management Systems Transform Organizations 29 A Market of One 30 Always On 33 Breaking the Ratios 36 Crushing Fraud 39 Maximizing Assets 41 Maximizing Revenue 44 Making Smart People Smarter 45 Conclusion 46 Chapter 4 Principles of Decision Management Systems 47 Principle #1: Begin with the Decision in Mind 48 Principle #2: Be Transparent and Agile 57 Principle #3: Be Predictive, Not Reactive 60 Principle #4: Test, Learn, and Continuously Improve 63 Summary 67 Part II Building Decision Management Systems 69 Chapter 5 Discover and Model Decisions 71 Characteristics of Suitable Decisions 72 A Decision Taxonomy 81 Finding Decisions 87 Documenting Decisions 99 Prioritizing Decisions 111 Chapter 6 Design and Implement Decision Services 115 Build Decision Services 116 Integrate Decision Services 147 Best Practices for Decision Services Construction 152 Chapter 7 Monitor and Improve Decisions 157 What Is Decision Analysis? 158 Monitor Decisions 159 Determine the Appropriate Response 167 Develop New Decision-Making Approaches 176 Confirm the Impact Is as Expected 184 Deploy the Change 187 Part III Enablers for Decision Management Systems 189 Chapter 8 People Enablers 191 The Three-Legged Stool 191 A Decision Management Center of Excellence 196 Organizational Change 206 Chapter 9 Process Enablers 211 Managing a Decision Inventory 211 Adapting the Software Development Lifecycle 215 Decision Service Integration Patterns 221 A Culture of Experimentation 222 Moving to Fact-Based Decisioning 228 The OODA Loop 232 Chapter 10 Technology Enablers 235 Business Rules Management Systems 235 Predictive Analytics Workbenches 238

James Taylor is the CEO of Decision Management Solutions, and is the leading expert in how to use business rules and analytic technology to build Decision Management Systems. James is passionate about using Decision Management Systems to help companies improve decision-making and develop an agile, analytic, and adaptive business. He has more than 20 years working with clients in all sectors to identify their highest-value opportunities for advanced analytics, enabling them to reduce fraud, continually manage and assess risk, and maximize customer value with increased flexibility and speed. In addition to strategy consulting, James has been a keynote speaker at many events for executive audiences, including ComputerWorld's BI & Analytics Perspectives, Gartner Business Process Management Summit, Information Management Europe, Business Intelligence South Africa, The Business Rules Forum, Predictive Analytics World, IBM's Business Analytics Forum, and IBM's CIO Leadership Exchange. James is also a faculty member of the International Institute for Analytics. In 2007, James wrote Smart (Enough) Systems: How to Deliver Competitive Advantage by Automating Hidden Decisions (Prentice Hall) with Neil Raden, and has contributed chapters on Decision Management to multiple books, including Applying Real-World BPM in an SAP Environment, The Decision Model, The Business Rules Revolution: Doing Business The Right Way, and Business Intelligence Implementation: Issues and Perspectives. He blogs on Decision Management at www.jtonedm.com and has written dozens of articles on Decision Management Systems for CRM Magazine, Information Management, Teradata Magazine, The BPM Institute, BeyeNetwork, InformationWeek, and TDWI's BI Journal. He was previously a Vice President at Fair Isaac Corporation, spent time at a Silicon Valley startup, worked on PeopleSoft's R&D team, and as a consultant with Ernst and Young. He has spent the last 20 years developing approaches, tools, and