A Business Rules Management System or BRMS is a complete set of software components for the creation, testing, management, deployment and ongoing maintenance of business rules in a production environment.

BRMSs offer many advantages over traditional code. A BRMS requires the elements shown in the diagram below:

An enterprise-class rule repository with audit trails and versioning

Design tools that allow technical users to integrate business rules with the rest of the environment.

Intuitive rule maintenance applications for business users

Verification and validation tools for both technical and business users

Testing and Simulation tools

Deployment tools supporting multiple platforms

A high-performance Business Rules Engine

A BRMS gives business users and analysts the ability to make routine changes and updates to critical business systems while freeing IT resources to concentrate on higher value-add projects and initiatives.

Example Commercial BRMSs*:

Actico Platform

FICO Blaze Advisor

IBM Operational Decision Manager

SAP BRFplus/Decision Service Manager

Sparkling Logic SMARTS

Example Open Source BRMSs*:

JBoss Drools

Open Rules

Red Hat JBoss BRMS

*Not intended to be an exhaustive list

Example of a Business Rules Management System