Business analysis often involves documenting and understanding how organizations make critical operational decisions. This has traditionally been a complex process, often involving multiple spreadsheets and different approaches to describing business rules. But now there is a new approach, based on a standard modeling language - Decision Model and Notation (DMN). Join our distinguished speakers from Trisotech and Red Hat as we introduce and explore decision modeling using DMN. You will learn: • The key constructs and semantics of DMN • How to represent business decision logic, from simple to complex, in DMN • How to go beyond the model, to create decision services that automate business decisions You'll come away with a better understanding of how DMN can help you model and automate decisions, and of the value it can bring to your organization.

1. Using DMN
Decision Modeling for
IIBA Business Analysts
Where strategies come to life!
Denis Gagné,
CEO & CTO
DMN 1.1 Member at OMG
Chair BPMN MIWG at OMG
BPMN 2.1 Member at OMG
CMMN 1.1 Member at OMG
Chair BPSWG at WfMC
XPDL Co-Editor at WfMC
Phil Simpson,
Product Marketing
Decision Manager
Process Automation Manager

2. • Strategic Decisions
• Tactical Decisions
• Operational Decisions

3. 10.7 - Decision Modeling
• New Technique in BABOK V3
Contributes to perspectives:
• Business Intelligence
• Business Process Management
DMN: The Decision Model and Notation
• Standard for Decision Modeling
• Complements Process (BPMN) and
Case Management (CMMN) Modeling
Standards

4. DMN What is DMN
• What is DMN?
• Decision Model and Notation
• DMN is a standard published by the Object Management Group (OMG).
• Why DMN matters?
• A common meta-model and notation for describing and modeling
repeatable Business Decisions
• Enables various groups to effectively collaborate in defining a Decision
Model
• Provides a standard notation for Decision Tables
• Current Status
• DMN 1.1 Released 2016
• DMN 1.2 Beta Jun 2018
https://www.omg.org/dmn

5. DMN Why DMN
The purpose of DMN is to provide the constructs that are
needed to model decisions, so that organizational decision
making can be readily depicted in diagrams, accurately defined
by business analysts, and (optionally) automated.
https://www.omg.org/dmn

6. DMN Uses of DMN
• Modeling human decision making
• Modeling requirements for decision making
• Executing decision logic
https://www.omg.org/dmn

7. DMN Who benefits from DMN
• Business people managing and monitoring business decisions
• Business Analysts designing decision models
• Developers automating decision making
https://www.omg.org/dmn

8. DMN Visual Notation
DMN offers simple visualization (notation) of the Business Decision
Requirements and the Decision Logic
Decision Requirements are depicted in a
Decision Requirement Diagram (DRD)
Decision Logic is depicted in a
Boxed Expression

9. Data
DMN
Decisions
Consume
Make Consume
Consume Consume
Organizations
Systems
DMN Complements BPMN & CMMN

10. Decision details DMN
is a about Deciding
Defines tasks
within business
processes where
decision-making is
required to occur.
Business
Process Model
Defines the
decisions to be
made in those
tasks, their
interrelationships,
and their
requirements for
decision logic.
Decision
Requirements
Diagram
Defines the
required decisions
in sufficient detail
to allow validation
and/or
automation.
Decision Logic
DMN Core concepts
is a about Processing

11. Decision as
Business Rule
Task
Business
Process Model
DMN Deciding as an activity
Decision

12. DMN Types of Decisions
In DMN, decisions answer a question
The Decision can be for:
• Selecting/Routing
• Scoring
• Categorizing
• Etc.
The Decision doesn’t take an action (no side effect) just determines a data value

13. LogicQ&A Requirements
DMN Decision Modeling

14. The simplest way of thinking of a Decision is
in term of a question we want to answer.
What question do we want to answer?
Spell out all possible answers

15. List all information, knowledge and other
decisions required to answer your question.
Use a divide and conquer strategy.
Information
Reference data
Transaction data
Knowledge
Policies
Regulations
Guidelines
Other decisions

16. Based on your requirement elements, define
the rules that upon which the answer of your
question is achieved.
If Condition on Req1 and Condition on Req2 and … then Possible Answer 1

17. Defines the
decisions to be
made in those
tasks, their
interrelationships,
and their
requirements for
decision logic.
Decision
Requirements
Diagram
DMN Decision Requirements Diagram
DMN
• A network of Decisions, Inputs, Knowledge
Sources, and Business Knowledge Models
• Depicts Information Requirements, Knowledge
Requirements and Authority Requirements for
Decisions
• May be composed of Human Decisions and/or
External Decisions

18. DMN Decision Requirements Diagram
Input Data
Decision
Knowledge Source

19. Defines the
required
decisions in
sufficient detail to
allow validation
and/or
automation.
Decision Logic
DMN Decision Logic
DMN
• At the decision logic level, every decision is
defined using a value expression which specifies
how the decision’s output is determined from its
inputs
• At that level, the decision is considered to be the
evaluation of the expression
• The value expression may be notated using a
boxed expression

20. DMN Boxed Expression
In DMN, all decision logic is represented as
Boxed Expressions
A Boxed Expression is either:
• a Decision Table
• a Literal expression
• a Context
• a Relation
• an Invocation

21. DMN FEEL
Expression language for DMN
Used in Boxed Expressions including
(Decision Tables)
• Meant to be business friendly
• Similar to Excel formulas
• Many built-in functions
http://www.trisotech.com/infographics/feel-poster
Friendly Enough Expression Language

22. Input set
Business Rules
Calculations
Output set
Decision Logic
DMN Decision Logic – Decision Table
DMN
Input
set
Output
set
Individual
Rule
Hit
Policy

23. Input set
Business Rules
Calculations
Output set
Decision Logic
DMN Decision Logic – Decision Table
DMN
• Hit policy: determines what to do with rules that
matches
• Rows : Rules (other orientations possible)
• Input column: variable with allowable values
• Input cells : expression or hyphen (- irrelevant to the
rule i.e. any input is acceptable)
• Output column : variable with allowable values
• Output cells: expression

24. DMN Decision Table – Best Practice
DMN
Completeness:
• We have at least one rule that matches for any
set of inputs. In the other word the decision
table is complete when the range of input
values for all inputs are covered.
Best practice:
• Use complete decision table whenever
possible to avoid misunderstanding.

25. DMN Example

26. Decision
Input Data
Decision 1
Decision 2 Input Data 3
Input Data 1 Input Data 2
Knowledge
Source
www.Trisotech.com
BASIC ELEMENTS
REQUIREMENTBusiness
Knowledge
Model
20161007
Download Free
BPMN, CMMN and DMN
templates at
www.Trisotech.com/Visio
Trisotech is a global leader in digital enterprise solutions, offering innovative and easy-to-use software tools
that allow customers to discover, model, analyze and find insights into their digital enterprise.
DMN provides a modeling notation to capture business decision requirements and decision logic.
It increases an organization’s agility and adaptability by capturing the business decisions
independently from where they are used.
Decision logic using a Decision Table
Decision Requirement Diagram (DRD)
Each row
is a rule
Conditions
Result
Defined
decision logic
Re- usable
decision logic
Input required
for the decision
Authority source
of this data
Information Knowledge Authority
http://www.trisotech.com/infographics/dmn-poster

27. DMN
Decision Requirements
Diagram
DMN Coming All Together
DMN
Business Process Model
Decision Logic (Decision Table)

28. DMN Advanced Topics
Re-use via BKMs

29. DMN Advanced Topics
Decision Services
Decision Service (Expanded)
Hidden
Elements
Service
Outputs
Service
Inputs
Decision Service (Collapsed)

30. DMN Advanced Topics
Other Boxed Expressions

31. DMN Benefits
• Decisions as first class citizen
• Decisions are tangible and more stable than individual rules
• It is a standard. The same in every tool
• What you model is what you execute!
• The Model is the requirements
• The Model is the logic
• The Model is the Documentation
• The Model is the code
• The Model is verifiable

32. DMN What you model is what you execute!
Decision Requirements
Decision Logic
Decision Documentation
Decision Code

33. Decision Model and Notation (DMN)
DMN enables End-to-End Decision Solution
http://www.trisotech.com/trials https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/jboss-middleware/decision-manager

34. {…}
Decision as a Service
Platform
DMN
DMN enables DaaS
Modeler
Subscriber
App
Creates
Discover
Calls
Creates
Powered by Red Hat Technology

35. Different Perspectives
BDMS ≠ BRMS ≠ BVMS
Just like a BRMS features cannot be evaluated against BVMS features
A BDMS features cannot be evaluated against a BRMS or BVMS features
Some of the same goals are achieved differently
BVMS
Business Vocabulary Management
SystemBDMS
Business Decision
Management System
BRMS
Business Rule
Management System
BVMS
Business Vocabulary
Management System
Decisions Rules Terms
Rules, Terms Decisions, Terms Rules, Decisions
First Class Citizen
Second Class Citizens

36. 36
RED HAT DECISION MANAGER
Tools for
business experts
Tools for
developers
Client
app
DECISION CENTRAL
DECISION
SERVER
Repository
Apps
Decision
Services

37. 37
RED HAT DECISION MANAGER
Tools for
business experts
Tools for
developers
Client
app
DECISION CENTRAL
DECISION
SERVER
Repository
Apps
Decision
Services

38. 38
WORKING WITH DEVELOPERS
Business experts Decision
Models
Microservices
Application
Developers
Containers
Microservice
images

39. 39
A MICROSERVICES APPLICATION
MODERN
USER
EXPERIEN
CES
Microsoft
Azure
Amazon Web
Services
Google Cloud
Platform
(Including devices,
services, and web
applications)
Event
processing
Decision
service
Planning
service
Analysis
service

40. Using DMN
Decision Modeling for
IIBA Business Analysts
Where strategies come to life!
www.Trisotech.com/Trial
www.RedHat.com/bpms
Denis Gagné,
dgagne@Trisotech.com
Phil Simpson,
psimpson@redhat.com