Analyze rule choices

Planning Business Modeler rule types are designed to handle different kinds of tasks. Although some of those differences are visible to the Modeler or developer who writes a rule, most of the differences are in the processing components of the system. Planning Business Modeler uses the rule type to select specialized modules that efficiently handle the particular requirements of each rule type.

Some rule types, such as assignment rules, offer complete flexibility for design and code. Others, such as the specialized rule types, are very restrictive. In the table that follows, notice that one of the listed rule types, a predefined business template, is not really a true rule type, but instead an option automatically designates a rule type when you create the rule.

Use these questions to help you select a rule type that matches what you want to do.

If your rule should	Then explore this rule type..	And this rule set type
Calculate values that become part of the definition of the model.	Definition rule	Definition
Assign specific values to certain cells	Assignment rule	Procedural or automatic rule set
Distribute resources or costs across a dimension or several dimensions	Allocation rule	Procedural rule set
Perform a specialized task Data export to a different application Financial reporting Manage model properties	One of the following specialized rules: Outbound Consolidation Currency conversion Intercompany reconciliation Model variable	Matching specialized rule sets
Calculate a standard formula	Predefined business rules templates for rules that calculate: Variance, ratios and averages Cumulative values across different periods Depreciation Consolidation eliminations and currency conversion Intercompany reconciliation Present value	Template rule sets are preset by Planning Business Modeler

In This Section

• Choose a rule set type
  Describes the types of rule sets, and describes their relationships to rule types and implementation options.

• Choose a rule type
  Describes the types of rules you can use.

Related Sections

• Review methods for creating a rule
  Provides a brief description of the different methods Planning Business Modeler supports for creating a business rule.

• Analyze implementation options
  Provides guidelines that can help you chose how to implement your rule, and links to descriptions of implementation options

• Best practices for writing rules
  Lists important factors to consider when you write a business rule.

• Security for business rules
  Provides background about aspects of security that affect business rules.

• Predefined templates for general business rules
  Describes the predefined templates that are included in Planning Business Modeler.