Haley Systems today introduced version 6.0 of the Haley Business Rules Suite, a BRMS that boasts both a strong pedigree and some unique features. The company was founded in 1989 by Paul Haley, the ex-Inference chief scientist who helped develop ART, one of the first commercially successful rule engines. The Haley 6.0 BRMS suite consists of three components: Haley Authority, a rule authoring environment; Haley Ru Haley Systems today introduced version 6.0 of the Haley Business Rules Suite, a BRMS that boasts both a strong pedigree and some unique features. The company was founded in 1989 by Paul Haley, the ex-Inference chief scientist who helped develop ART, one of the first commercially successful rule engines.The Haley 6.0 BRMS suite consists of three components: Haley Authority, a rule authoring environment; Haley Rules Server, a rule execution engine; and Haley Collaboration Server, a Web application that enables distributed rule management and authoring.The rule server offers two deployment options: either an all-Java version that will run in any J2EE compliant application server or a natively compiled version intended for speed-critical applications. Interestingly, both versions are compiled from the same code base. I did not have an opportunity to benchmark the preview version of the rule server, so performance measurements will have to wait until I get my hands on the final release. HaleyAuthority is the thick-client, Java-based, desktop application for creating and maintaining rule ontologies; from here you can import existing business object models, configure rule services as part of an SOA, or build a new model from scratch. This is where all the heavy lifting is done in creating an environment whereby business analysts can author and maintain business rules.The Collaboration Server is the basis for remote rule authoring and maintenance via a Web services interface. The collaboration server is also used as the back end for custom rule editors or maintenance tools. Haley provides a DHTML client (IE and Firefox only) for rule editing and an Excel plug-in for managing rules in a spreadsheet format (“tabular rules” in Haley parlance). The Excel plug-in provides an interface very similar to the DHTML client; and though it is limited to tabular rules, it does illustrate the possibilities of custom interfaces. The source code for the Excel plug-in, as well as the JavaScript for the DHTML client, is available as part of the freely downloadable SDK to help get developers started. Haley has taken an interesting approach to the problem of presenting rules to business users who will update and maintain the rule base. While most vendors offer a mechanism that allows for the substitution of various phrases, verbs, and nouns in business rules, the resulting rules still look like computer code and take a bit of getting used to on the part of the business analyst.The Haley approach is almost like typing English sentences. The system has an auto-completion feature that suggests syntactically correct alternatives, and from what I saw it generally makes good guesses. Business rules written in this system almost read like ordinary sentences and paragraphs, easing the learning curve for non-programmers.This NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology is used consistently throughout the product set, and it’s available in all authoring environments, even the Excel plug-in. This is a fascinating technology, with applications beyond mainstream BRMS. I can think of some interesting uses in the Semantic Web, for example. Building upon the NLP framework, Haley offers knowledge packs for two industry verticals, mortgage lending and insurance. Based on the MISMO and ACCORD XML standards respectively, these knowledge packs offer pre-built language customizations, meaning that all of the industry standard phrases and vocabulary are there from the start. All that remains is for a business analyst to start entering rules.I was impressed by the fact that the system offers the same interfaces to external applications as it uses internally. The same goes for Haley’s XML: everything in the system communicates using KML (Knowledge Modeling Language). This means that the Haley supplied components, or applications that your IT department creates, all use the same document format. The result is less likelihood of bugs and smoother integration for custom applications. This might explain why Haley is marketed as an OEM option for embedded rules engines. Haley Business Rules Suite 6.0 Availability: Now Pricing: Haley Authority authoring tool starts at $3,000 for a development and test environment; Haley Rules Server starts at $15,000. Verdict: Haley 6.0 appears to be a well-designed and consistent business rule management platform, featuring advanced language modeling capabilities and solid XML support throughout. I’m looking forward to taking a closer look in the coming weeks. Technology Industry