Classifying Decision Model Structures

(How to Recognize, Classify, and Validate Common Logic Structures)

It is not by accident that all decision models look similar.  The similarities reflect the rigor of The Decision Model principles, the most important being mandatory adherence to Decision Model First Normal Form.  These similarities are useful because they make it easy for people to understand and validate decision models, as there is only one way to interpret one.  This is a major advantage of The Decision Model over other approaches for representing business logic. 

However, this month we focus, not so much on the similarities among decision models, but on their differences.  More than that, we explore the idea of classifying decision model structures based on differences in their logic. 

Below, Part 1 summarizes the similarities among decision models.  Part 2 does the same for their differences.  Part 3 introduces three fundamental Rule Family classifications so you can recognize them and use them for validating business logic.