Introduction to Key Principles and Oracle Policy Automation

Oracle Policy Automation, known as OPA, is an innovative yet scalable software product that implements business rules within business applications. It is uniquely designed to fit well with today’s business architecture. The OPA has been designed to adapt legislation and policy documents into easily enforceable business rules that focus on the calculation of entitlements and payment amounts.

THREE TECHNOLOGIES

There are three technologies that work with OPA, Oracle Web Determinations, Oracle Determinations Server, and Oracle Determinations Engine. The best part is that the first two options, Oracle Web Determinations and Oracle Determinations Server, are compatible with a wide variety of application servers such as Apache Tomcat, Microsoft IIS, IBM WebSphere AS, and WebLogic Server. CRMIT suggests users to take advantage of some other cool features, as well as built-in test case execution, debugging capabilities, and definition of assessments based on interview rules.

Apart from the initial release, ORACLE OPA VERSION 10.1.0, users can also try ORACLE OPA VERSION 10.2 and ORACLE OPA VERSION 10.3. These versions have a connector to integrate with Siebel and SAP and also help users to perform custom functions that can be used while writing rules, respectively.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

When it comes to OPA, it is critical to consider a few key principles when designing the policy model for an Oracle Policy Automation project:

• The design and development of policy models fits with any software development methodology. Oracle Policy Automation is suitable for use in agile projects, but it works equally well with traditional cascading methodologies.
• Roles in an OPA project team generally include rule architect, rule author, technical architect, technical developer, test administrator, and evaluator. A person can fill more than one role, although at a minimum, the rule author and evaluator roles are typically filled by independent individuals.
• The rule architect creates the design of the policy model component. The technical architect creates the design for any component outside of the compiled policy model. The test manager creates the test strategy.
• The physical file structure of folders, documents, etc. within Oracle Policy Modeling it can be organized independently of the content of the rule.
• Staying intact with these policies can help you as you work on OPA projects, before getting into the core of their design. When starting with the design part, try to give your document a simple and descriptive name. If you find a layout template that you can use, be prepared to add sections of the template and use headings throughout your layout document to better serve readers. Here are some initial steps that can make it easier for you to create effective OPA projects.