PROFESSIONAL PETROLEUM

DATA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

Introduction to PPDM
Business Rules
June 2012
 WE NEED SOME STANDARDIZATION

• What is this?
• Who uses it? What for? When?
• Why does this information matter?
• Who created it? How did they do it?
• Did they do it “correctly”?
• Is anything “missing”?
• How can I tell if it’s “good”?
• Can I trust this information?
• What should I do if it’s “wrong”?
• How big is the problem?
• How should I fix it?
• ….
http://www.mpassociates.gr/software/distrib/science/rock/rw99spec.html

2 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

 WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT OUR
DATA?

I’d like to use You bet, our data

your data. Can I is of the highest
trust it? standard!

The last time I We find lots

got your data I of oil, so our
had a lot of data must be
problems. good, right?

It would be It would be great

great if there if I could convince
was a way to him my data is
know for sure! good!

3 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

 DEFINITION – PPDM DATA RULE

A data rule is a statement that provides the

opportunity to validate compliance to expected
conditions or to identify and review exceptions.
It always resolves to either true or false. Data
Rules are intended to ensure that a program
operates on accurate and useful data providing
higher user confidence in the quality of the data.
Data rules apply to data and information, not
workflows and processes. They provide a
method to define specific tests, validations or
constraints associated with data items. Data
rules are atomic; they each check one thing.

4 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

WHAT IS A BUSINESS RULE?

They define or constrain an aspect of

the business
They help structure how the
business operates
They exist for a reason – they are
business driven
They are enforced
There are consequences if they are
broken
IT and the business must agree
about what the rules are

www.businessrulesgroup.org
 DEFINITION – PPDM BUSINESS RULE

A Business rule is a statement that defines or constrains

some aspect of the business. Business rules describe the
operations, definitions and constraints that apply to an
organization and are put in place to help the organization
achieve its goals. Business rules can apply to workflows,
policies, procedures, regulatory compliance, computing
systems, individual behavior or corporate behavior in an
organization.
Conformance to a business rule must be measured by
determining whether the necessary processes have been
applied to data and information. Business rules is a
grouping of data rules by describing how to assert
business structure or control or influence the behavior of
the business. A business rule will contain one or more data
rules, and data rules will be contained in more than one
business rule.

6 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

Rules Hierarchy

Best Practices
Teach Certify
A collection of industry
accepted business rules

Portable
Business Rules Services

Audit Accredit
Data Rules
 WHAT KINDS OF BUSINESS RULES EXIST?
According to the Business Rules Group, four kinds of rules exist:
Definition of business terms
• The “What is a Well”
project
• The PPDM Data Model
Facts relating terms to each
other
• Expressed as plain
language
- Wells may have well logs
• Expressed as database
relationships
Constraints (action assertions)
• Rules about what is
permitted and what is not
- Well logs may not exist before
there is a wellbore
Derivations
• Define how knowledge in
one form may be
transformed into other
knowledge, possibly in
another form.
• Business Intelligence
http://www.businessrulesgroup.org/first_paper/BRG-whatisBR_3ed.pdf
WHAT BUSINESS & DATA RULES DO

Help us standardize how data is identified and defined

• Common sets of terms and definitions that are based on the
business, and that meet the needs of data managers, IT and
business!
Govern how data is created and managed
• What information is critical to directional surveys?
Enforce important policies that should be supported
• Well logs must always be associated with the appropriate
Wellbore
• A well’s spud date may not be before the drilling permit date.
Allow us to verify data quality / trustworthiness
• The deepest depth of a logged interval cannot be deeper than the
deepest depth of a Wellbore
• If data contains Latitude and Longitude, the CRS must also be
populated
WHERE ARE YOUR BUSINESS
RULES?

In paper policy manuals

In your user’s software applications
In ETL tools
In your data cleansing tools
Explicit in data models
Implicit in procedures, functions, internal code
Written in views, security grants
Embedded and inferred in data content
In Word, PowerPoint, Excel documents …
In diagrams and workflow models
In people’s brains
 Business Rules Workgroup

 Rules are everywhere – in your databases, your applications, your

vendor data, your ETL systems…
 Sometimes rules compete with each other
 Few, if any, rule sets are complete
 Sometimes rules are not visible or understood, the result is confusion or errors
 Rules can be lost easily – how is that knowledge retained?
 There is benefit to having a shared rule set that everyone can agree to
and use consistently
 Reduce the incentive for vendors to “roll their own” rules
 Improve the quality of learning for data management professionals
 Agreement about rules, best practices and semantics are a necessary
component of professional organization’s mandate (SPE, SEG …)
 This group was formed in early 2010 by a group of companies who are
committed to the improvement of our Industry’s data management
practices.
WORKGROUP OBJECTIVES

• Design and create a repository and processes through which

business rules can be submitted, reviewed, endorsed,
published and retrieved for industry use.
• Deliver a core “seeding” of business rules.
• Provide a meaningful beginning to a process expected to
extend over several years.
• Define a common glossary of terminology and patterns for
discussion for industry rules, e.g. business rule, data rule, best
practice, regulatory rule, policy.

• Out of scope: The definition of a complete set of rules

Knowledge Themes

Knowledge
base

Technical
Definitions
support

Meta Data Diagnostics

Impact /
Resolution
metrics
 NEW RULE & APPROVAL PROCESS

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 NEW RULE & APPROVAL PROCESS

Members SME Members Industry

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 BUSINESS RULE REVIEWERS

• Call for Business Rule Reviewers

(Subject Matter Experts)

• Please consider being a SME

reviewer!

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 BUSINESS RULES APPLICATION

http://rules.ppdm.org/

Non-members can create a “Guest” account to

access the Business Rules application though
will only be able to see the Rule Title

17 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

 PHASE II

• Creating Business Rules (collection of Data Rules)

• Read only version

• Reporting and outputs

18 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

WHERE TO END UP?

More global or regional rules

• But fewer overall, as we will consolidate and integrate!
Fewer individual or divisional rules
Implementation independent
• Everyone uses the same core set of rules
• Criteria for selecting a vendor

More standard rules

Fewer local rules

 CREATE A RULE

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21 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved
 DESCRIBE AND CLASSIFY

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 DIAGNOSTICS

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 IMPACT

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 METRICS

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 RESOLUTION

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 FITTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Rules and
Best Practices
Define process Define
expectations Knowledge Base education needs

Accredit What are rules Certify data What are rules

products and and best managers and best
services practices? practices?

Develop
Identify gaps
education
Develop audit
Identify gaps
process
Knowledge
base

Technical
Definitions
support

Meta Data Diagnostics

Impact /
Resolution
metrics

27 Copyright 2012, PPDM Association. All Rights Reserved

PROFESSIONAL PETROLEUM
DATA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

Questions?