Kenneth P Cychosz

US Patent:

20020116326, Aug 22, 2002

Filed:

Sep 14, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/952995

Inventors:

Kenneth Cychosz - Apple Valley MN, US
Brian Gilkay - Brooklyn Park MN, US

International Classification:

G06F017/60

US Classification:

705/038000

Abstract:

A method and system are presented for making temporary changes to business logic implemented in a software program. In the preferred embodiment, business logic is stored in rules that are associated together in a series of tests. Changes to the business logic are stored in overrides, which contain one or more instructions for altering the rules. These instructions can either add or delete a business rule, or can create a new test that contains multiple business rules. The overrides themselves are grouped together into negotiations. Since the changes to the rule set are stored in overrides, no changes are made to the base rule set. Thus, updates to the base rule set are immediately effective in implementations using one or more overrides. When an evaluation is conducted in situations requiring a variation from the standard business process, the base rule set is still utilized as a starting point. The negotiations and associated overrides are then loaded and the changes found in the overrides are made to the base set. Only at this point does rules engine begin analyzing the rule set.