Integrating a rules engine within a process-management framework requires some investment up front. Before you attempt this integration, it is important to delineate rules from process. Hence, a major decision in system architecture is how to implement business policies, business processes, and supporting business logic. Indeed, the architect must communicate or invent best practices so that designers know where each of the relevant technologies—BPEL, business rules, Java/web services—should be applied when designing system functionality.
As illustrated in the figure below, business logic is spread across three different layers of the IT infrastructure: business process, web services, and rules. Let's address each in turn.
