Out of the box, BizTalk Server offers the BRE and it can be installed with or without the BizTalk Server runtime. It can be used separately, but you will still need a BizTalk license (similar to the scenario using the AppFabric Connect feature explained in Chapter 6, BizTalk AppFabric Connect). The BRE is essentially an independent product which can be accessed by its own APIs and tools. Through the .NET application, you can use the engine with no need for orchestrations or other BizTalk objects.
In this recipe, you will create:
A schema that will provide information on an employee, an instance of a schema will serve as input for the application
A policy that will determine employee benefits
A .NET application calling the policy
Although the business rules engine comes as part of the BizTalk Server, this recipe will show that .NET assemblies outside the BizTalk environment can call into it. The created external application is allowed to use the same rule framework...