Before you start

Prepare for the tutorial by reading its description, and checking the audience and prerequisites.

The tutorial is based on a decision service that is used by a fictitious online lender. The decision service determines whether a customer is eligible for a loan.

This tutorial uses a simplified version of a decision service that has only one project. The rules are in two folders in the project:

Folder Description
eligibility These rules determine whether the loan can be approved.
validation These rules make preliminary checks to determine whether data is rejected immediately.

As you go through the tutorial, you log in as two different users to simulate the collaborative work that takes place in the decision governance framework of the Business console:

  • Paul: A manager who initiates, reviews, and deploys changes.
  • Bea: A rule author who implements the change.

Use decision governance to organize work, especially in a large team. It also makes tracking and reviewing changes easier.

If you work in the governance framework, see Tutorial: Exploring decision services in a governance workflow. To delve deeper into how decision governance works with Decision Center, see the IBM® Governance Redbook: Governing Operational Decisions in an Enterprise Scalable Way External link opens a new window or tab.

Learning objectives

You collaborate with others to do the following tasks:
  • Create and modify rules.
  • Manage changes.
  • Run tests and simulations.
  • Deploy a decision service.

Time required

This tutorial should take approximately 30 minutes to finish. If you explore other concepts related to this tutorial, it could take longer to complete.

Audience

This tutorial is for Business console users who want an introduction to rule authoring and management. If you work within the governance framework, another tutorial is available that covers change management within releases and activities (see Tutorial: Exploring decision services in a governance workflow).

Prerequisites

You work on the Miniloan Service decision service in the sample server. If Miniloan Service is not available in the Business console when you log in, ask your system administrator to publish the decision service to Decision Center. Do the following tasks before you begin:

The decision service and tutorial files are in English.

Best practices

This tutorial includes the following best practices for getting started with decision services:
  • Set the Business console to follow changes to rules, especially when you assign work to other people. Example...
  • Create a snapshot of a branch before modifying it. You can use the snapshot for comparisons or to rollback the branch. Example...
  • Post comments for other users. The comments can direct work and serve as part of the history of changes. Example...
  • Use the search feature to find rule artifacts. Example...
  • Check the changes by using the compare feature. Example...