Drools

Drools is a business rules management system (BRMS) solution that helps business and technical teams manage business rules logic.

It’s an open source system and written in 100% pure Java™. This means that you need Java 8 or later installed to use it. Drools is also available in the Maven Central repository.

Drools uses Rete algorithm; it operates on a "if this then that" model (e.g., if a customer submits a question via the contact form, then send an email to the customer success team).

When you add or update a business rule, Drools will match it to the conditions of the rule. These conditions are stored in the production memory to determine if they’re eligible for execution. If the rule conditions are met, Drools will activate them.

To get started, import example decisions from Drools into your integrated development environment (IDE). That way, you can better understand how the rules and code function and use them as reference as you define your own Drools projects.

These example decisions range from Hello World, which demonstrates basic rule execution and the use of debug output, and House of Doom, which demonstrates backward chaining and recursion. Drools also provides highly comprehensive documentation, so you never have to worry about getting stuck.

Drools stays efficient with regular updates. With the latest version, you can import existing data objects in the Business Central Workbench as DMN data types in the DMN designer. You can also manage spaces and projects permissions directly within the respective screens, via the Contributors tab.

Drools recently launched a Decision Model and Notation (DMN) FEEL handbook. Use it together with your DMN modeling activities. Key features include FEEL built-in functions organized by category, tested and integrated FEEL examples, and responsive design.

Key features

• Drools Expert, a business rule engine
• Drools Guvnor, a business rule manager
• Drools Flow, a workflow or business process engine
• Drools Fusion, a module that enables complex event processing