So I've got my scope better defined after this week on the current rules engine I need to create for the current job I'm working on. The prospect of developing this rules engine is interesting to me. In the very near future (next 2-3 business days) I will find out even more specifics about the scope requirements as I begin building, or enhancing the rules engine I decide on. So far I'm working on the following as a basis, which I might or might not use in the final engine design and implementation.
The base prototype that I am using at this time for the rules engine is the NxBRE. This engine will act as basis of whatever I end up making, whether it is a completely different engine or the NxBRE engine itself is still undecided. I'm hoping in the next few days to iron our the usage, the following is what I have to consider.
- Will the NxBRE engine do what is needed of it.
- Will the NxBRE engine cost less than a custom solution built by me? (i.e. will it take longer to build a custom solution myself, or implement this and learn how to use it and extend it?)
- Will a custom solution be robust enough for future use?
- Will enough support be available via RuleML and other features of NxBRE to meet the demands that an in house solution would provide? (i.e. will enough developers be using it to make it a "standard" for usage that is easy to train and understand?)
So with that I've got to test out the NxBRE engine, so the following entry will be a how to doc on how to get this sucker downloaded, installed, and running. Maybe I'll even have time to setup some samples!
