What business rule should I use: decision tables

‍Decision Tables

Let's first see what types of business rules you can use in DecisionRules.

• Decision Table
• Decision Tree
• Scripting Rule
• Rule Flow

Today, we shall look at the first, most important kind of rule: Decision Table. A decision table is probably the simplest interpretation of a business rule. At DecisionRules, we put a lot of care into our decision tables because we know they are the most common choice when creating a rule.

How the decision table works

The decision table always has two large parts. Terms and results. It's simple, if I meet the condition or conditions, I get the corresponding result. It is good to know that the conditions represent the individual columns of the table. The results can also be divided into columns. This way I can combine multiple conditions and when the conditions on a given row are met, I get all the results.

Example of a simple decision table

A simple example can be a decision table that has two conditions and one result. In the given example, I call the price of fruit from the type of fruit and its color. Of course, the table can be expanded as desired by the number of columns and rows.

‍

When is it good to use a decision table?

The advantage of the decision table is its simplicity - simply put, people from marketing and IT understand the decision table. Anyone who knows at least a little bit about Excel is able to edit or expand the decision table. A decision table is useful if you have long lists of products, services or other various conditions that you simply want to see in your place. However, if the decision table is too long, then it is necessary to ask whether it is really built correctly