InRule Technology, provider of InRule®, the premier business rule engine for .NET, today announced irWord, which provides the ability to author and maintain rules, logic, and calculations within Microsoft Word.
Subject matter experts at many organizations already use Microsoft Word to document business requirements and rules. Using irWord, they can now manage executable business rules directly from Word, streamlining the transition from documenting requirements to executable logic. irWord provides a familiar authoring environment and eliminates the need for separate requirements documents.
“Our customers use InRule to provide both technical and business users with intuitive and technically rich rule authoring capabilities, reducing application maintenance backlogs for frequently changing logic,,” said Theresa O’Neil, Vice President of Business Development at InRule Technology. “With irWord, we are broadening the reach of rule authoring and maintenance to business users who need a simplified, more familiar environment. By enabling business users to write requirements and executable rules in a single document and as a single task irWord will increase efficiency and effectiveness.”
irWord includes all of InRule’s rich authoring capabilities –decision tables, English-like Business Language Authoring and dozens of built-in actions and functions, as well as InRule’s integrated, real-time testing – all within a Microsoft Word document. Once rules have been formalized and tested, they are immediately available for execution by the InRule rule engine, in accordance with the version control set by IT.
Customizable Rule Templates Deliver a Business-Specific Rule Authoring Experience
Organizations can create a customized authoring experience specific to their business through the use of Rule Templates, extending InRule’s standard template catalog with their own vocabulary and expressions. Rule Templates provide a familiar context for non-technical users and simplify the creation of complex rules by allowing users to define logic in terms they understand.
The combination of irWord and Rule Templates delivers an authoring experience tailored to an organization’s specific needs. “We’re letting business users write their own rules in their own terms,” said O’Neil. “All this can be done within Word, the world’s most widely used authoring program, delivering on Microsoft’s vision of Office Business Applications.”
About Office Business Applications
By enabling users of Microsoft Word to author business rules for execution by InRule, irWord actualizes Microsoft’s vision for Office Business Applications (OBA): “an emerging breed of application that leverages the power of the Office Business Platform.” Microsoft further describes the value of OBAs: “Office Business Applications allow users to increase productivity by providing a seamless and integrated end to end user experience. Documents remain at the center of the experience, while deep integration with business logic, data, and services make them more relevant than ever. Users can collaborate and get work done in familiar ways. Server tools bring powerful search, portal technology, and advanced workflow to the enterprise.”