Business Rule

The Business Rule task allows the evaluation of business rules defined in spreadsheets. Supported formats include CSV, XLS, and XLSX. If a rule file lacks these extensions, it can also be processed if the Content-Type indicates a supported format.

The Business Rule task evaluates business rules using a specified rule file. The file can be stored locally on the web, AWS S3, Azure Blob, or elsewhere. The task supports different execution strategies, input columns, and output columns. The rules can be configured to apply various logical operations such as comparison, string, list, and date operations.

Task parameters

Configure these parameters for the Business Rule task.

Parameter	Description	Required/ Optional
inputParamemeter.ruleFileLocation	URL of the spreadsheet to be evaluated, in CSV, XLS, or XLSX format. The file can be stored on the web, AWS S3, Azure Blob, etc. Note:A spreadsheet without an explicitly-defined .csv, .xls, or .xlsx extension can also be processed as long as its `Content-Type` indicates a supported format, such as a Google spreadsheet published to the web.	Required.
inputParamemeter.executionStrategy	Strategy for rule execution. Supported types: FIRE_FIRST—Uses the first rule that matches to generate the output. FIRE_ALL—Uses all matching rules to generate the output, with subsequent rules overwriting previous values. Note:When you update the rule for any files, there will be a default caching period of 60 mins, causing the updated rules to reflect with a delay of up to 60 minutes.	Required.
inputParamemeter.inputColumns	The inputs to the rule file, which can be fixed or passed as variables. Supports string, number, boolean, null, and object/array.	Required.
inputParamemeter.outputColumns	List of columns that will be present in the task output.	Required.

Execution Strategy

To understand the executionStrategy parameter, consider the following spreadsheet example:

Name	Price
Phone	10$
Phone	11$

If the input name is "Phone":

With FIRE_FIRST, the output price will be $10.
With FIRE_ALL, the output price will be $11, as the second rule overwrites the first.

Supported operators

The Business Rule task supports the following operators:

Comparison operators: <=, >=, =, <, >.
String operators: Equals (=) and Not Equals (!=).
List Operators: inList and !=inList
For example, productName inList ["phone", "laptop"] will match if productName is phone or laptop.
createList
For example, createList ["A", "B", "C"] will generate a list ["A", "B", "C"] in output.
Date comparison: yyyy-MM-dd, yyyy-MMM-dd and yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.

Task configuration

This is the task configuration for a Business Rule task.

{
  "name": "execute_rule",
  "taskReferenceName": "execute_rule_ref",
  "inputParameters": {
    "ruleFileLocation": "https://business-rules.s3.amazonaws.com/rules.xlsx",
    "executionStrategy": "FIRE_FIRST",
    "inputColumns": {
      "InputVariable1": "${workflow.input.InputVariable1}",
      "InputVariable2": "${workflow.input.InputVariable2}"
    },
    "outputColumns": ["OutputVariable1"]
  },
  "type": "BUSINESS_RULE"
}

Task output

The Business rule task will return the following parameters.

Parameter	Description
result	Contains the evaluated parameters based on the matching rule. The specific parameters inside the `result` object depend on the output columns specified in the task configuration.

Adding a Business Rule task in UI

To add a Business Rule task:

In your workflow, select the (+) icon and add a Business Rule task.
Enter the URL of the file in Rule file location.
Select the Execution strategy for evaluating the file.

FIRE_FIRST—Uses the first rule that matches to generate the output.
FIRE_ALL—Uses all matching rules to generate the output, with subsequent rules overwriting previous values.

Provide the Input columns and Output columns.

Adding Business Rule

Examples

Here are some examples for using the Business Rule task.

Using Business Rule task in a workflow

To illustrate the use of the Business Rule task in a workflow, consider the following rule file:

productType |   productCategory |   purchaseDate            |   itemCount   |   price   |   Discount    |   ShippingCharges
electronics |       cellphone   |   <=2022-04-22            |       8       |   != 100  |       11%     |       5$
electronics |       cellphone   |   <=2022-04-22            |       8       |   < 100   |       13%     |       15$
electronics |      laptop       |   > 2022-mar-12           |       >10     |   <10.2   |       5%      |       4$
beauty      |      powder       |   = 2022-01-01            |       >15     |   >=10.3  |       15%     |       2$
food        |      pizza        |   < 2022-03-22 12:20:22   |       25      |   >300    |       7%      |       10$

The workflow definition is as follows:

//workflow definition
{
  "name": "TestRule",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "name": "rule",
      "taskReferenceName": "rule",
      "inputParameters": {
        "ruleFileLocation": "Product.xlsx",
        "executionStrategy": "FIRE_FIRST",
        "inputColumns": {
          "productType": "${workflow.input.productType}",
          "productCategory": "${workflow.input.productCategory}",
          "price": "${workflow.input.price}",
          "itemCount": "${workflow.input.itemCount}",
          "itemCode": "${workflow.input.itemCode}"
        },
        "outputColumns": ["Discount", "ShippingCharges"]
      },
      "type": "BUSINESS_RULE"
    }
  ]
}

Case 1

If the workflow is triggered using the following input:

{
  "productType": "electronics",
  "productCategory": "cellphone",
  "price": "5",
  "itemCount": "8",
  "purchaseDate": "2022-04-22"
}

To find the matching rule,

Explanation:

productType: Matches "electronics", which corresponds to rules defined for electronics in the rule file (rows 1, 2, and 3).
productCategory: Matches ``cellphone", narrowing down the applicable rules to those for electronics and cellphone (eliminating row 3).
purchaseDate: Matches "<=2022-04-22" (April 22, 2022 is on or before April 22, 2022), applying to rules (matching rows 1 and 2).
itemCount: Matches "8", which applies to rules requiring an itemCount of 8 (matching rows 1 and 2).
price: Matches "!= 100" (5 is not equal to 100), specifically matching rules where the price is not equal to 100. Also matches “<100” where 5 is less than 100 (matching rows 1 and 2).

With the FIRE_FIRST execution strategy, the first rule that matches the input will be evaluated. Therefore, even though both the first and second rules match, the first rule is chosen for execution.

Consequently, the output generated is:

{
  "Discount": "11%",
  "ShippingCharges": "5$"
}

Case 2

For a different case, if the workflow is triggered using the following input:

{
  "productType": "electronics",
  "productCategory": "laptop",
  "price": "10.0",
  "itemCount": "12",
  "purchaseDate": "2022-04-22"
}

To find the matching rule,

Explanation:

productType: Matches "electronics", which corresponds to rules defined for electronics in the rule file (rows 1, 2, and 3).
productCategory: Matches "laptop", narrowing down the applicable rules to those for electronics and laptops (eliminating rows outside this category).
purchaseDate: Matches "> 2022-mar-12" (The input purchase date April 22, 2022 is after March 12, 2022), applying to rules where the purchase date is after March 12, 2022.
price: Matches "<10.2" (10.0 is less than 10.2).
itemCount: Matches ">10" (12 is greater than 10).

Based on these conditions, the input meets the criteria defined by the third rule in the rule file (row 3). Therefore, the output generated is:

{
  "Discount": "5%",
  "ShippingCharges": "4$"
}

Case 3

When using FIRE_ALL as the execution strategy, with the same input as Case 1:

{
  "productType": "electronics",
  "productCategory": "cellphone",
  "price": "5",
  "itemCount": "8",
  "purchaseDate": "2022-04-22"
}

To find the matching rule,

Explanation:

productType: Matches "electronics", which corresponds to rules defined for electronics in the rule file (rows 1, 2, and 3).
productCategory: Matches ``cellphone", narrowing down the applicable rules to those for electronics and cellphone (eliminating row 3).
purchaseDate: Matches "<=2022-04-22" (April 22, 2022 is on or before April 22, 2022), applying to rules where the purchase date is on or before April 22, 2022 (matching rows 1 and 2).
itemCount: Matches "8", which applies to rules requiring an itemCount of 8 (matching rows 1 and 2).
price: Matches "!= 100" (5 is not equal to 100), specifically matching rules where the price is not equal to 100. Also matches “<100” where 5 is less than 100 (matching rows 1 and 2).

With the FIRE_ALL execution strategy, all rules that match the input will be evaluated. In this case, both the first and second rules match the input criteria. However, according to the FIRE_ALL strategy, subsequent rules can overwrite the output values of previous rules if they also match the input.

Therefore, even though both the first and second rules match, the second rule is chosen for execution.

Consequently, the output generated is:

{
  "Discount": "13%",
  "ShippingCharges": "5$"
}

Task parameters​

Execution Strategy​

Supported operators​​

Task configuration​

Task output​

Adding a Business Rule task in UI​

Examples​

Task parameters

Execution Strategy

Supported operators

Task configuration

Task output

Adding a Business Rule task in UI

Examples