Unlock the Full Potential of Your Business with Higson

We offer advanced versioning, an intuitive tree structure, and unmatched speed, all within a modern and user-friendly UI.

Versioning

Versioning allows users to track changes, revert to previous iterations, and compare differences across versions. It’s indispensable in dynamic environments requiring meticulous control over rule evolution.‍In Higson users can connect multiple rules and create a coherent configuration of their rule set.

Tree Structure

Higson rule engine provides a clear tree structure (Domain) of business rules, making it super easy for users to navigate.

Performance

Higson represents a significant leap forward in performance, scalability, and resource optimization.

Intuitive UI

With Higson's intuitive and modern UI, navigating and managing business rules is simple and effortless, enhancing user experience and efficiency.

More features

Tester

Higson Studio provides a testing module for business rules. This means that every user, before publishing changes, can test whether the rules work as desired and check the impact on other rules by using a mass tester to perform regression tests. For convenience, input data for mass tests can be prepared in an Excel file and imported to Higson.

Private session

There is no limit to the number of users working simultaneously. Hence, every user has their session(register of changes) and works on the common environment applying their private changes. Those changes are not visible to other users before publishing. There is also a warning message if two users start to modify the same rule.

Rules provisioning

Usually, the process of development includes more than one environment, which creates a need to provision the configuration of rules. Higson provides a mechanism of snapshots that export the current configuration to text files. These files can be stored in an external repository or can be easily imported into another environment.

Profiles

Higson can be used independently in many different processes of the same organization by creating separate profiles in Higson Studio. This makes it possible to use the best features of Higson by different teams at the same time, without affecting other business segments.

Context

Higson Studio provides a controlled way of defining inputs, which may either be simple types or complex structures. The rules use this context to reference actual business data needed to evaluate a decision.

Works with SQL database

Higson application uses SQL databases for storing rule configurations. Supported databases: Oracle, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL.

Dev mode

Special mode to speed up the initial phase of the development. When the developer connects the rules to the application, this mode can be activated to skip the publishing phase of the rules. Each change is immediately visible to the outside world.

Persistence Engine

Higson comes with a persistence engine that is based on the context definition. Its usage is optional, but it speeds up the development process of Java applications. Users can configure their object structure in Higson and let it manage the read/write operations. This is the implementation of the ORM concept.

Creating rules in Higson

Decision table

It's not just a feature; It represents a way to simplify complex rule management.

Function

In some cases, users need to write more complex logic. We decided to use Groovy language – very simple for simple logic, yet powerful.

Development cycle

Standard development cycle

FEW DAYS (OR EVEN WEEKS)

Update business logic

Create a task for IT department

Any change in the application code also means you have to test more functions in case of interdependencies

Any change in the application code means the new software version has to be released

Often it implicates whole application doesn’t work, so the change is processed at night

Any change in the application code also means you have to test more functions in case of interdependencies

You conduct user tests to see, whether business logic is correct

You deploy new version of application to production environment

FEW HOURS

UPDATE

TEST

PUBLISH

Higson is a part
of the Gartner Toolkit:

Decision Management
Suite Vendor Profiles.

Pricing

Discover Higson Pricing Models

See pricing models

Q&A

When to use Business Rules?

Business Rules are instructions on how the system (software or service) should behave given the exact conditions. The typical business rules structure looks like this:

when [condition],
then [result].

Business Rules usually refer to statements that concern a business model, pricing, offer, product/service attributes, or communication with a customer.

Business Rules examples

The following statements are Business Rules:

In banking: when a customer is new, then offer a $200 bonus.
In retail: when a customer buys three items of the same product, then make the third one free.
In insurance: when a customer has a history of claims, then raise the price by 10%.

Which sectors can use Business Rules Engines?

Insurance: BREs streamline policy management, claims processing, underwriting, and compliance.

Banking and Finance: Financial institutions use BREs for credit scoring, loan approvals, fraud detection, and regulatory compliance.

Retail: Retailers leverage BREs for dynamic pricing, customer segmentation, inventory management, and customer loyalty programs.

Healthcare: In healthcare, BREs manage patient data, treatment protocols, and regulatory compliance. They ensure that medical decisions align with the latest guidelines and improve patient outcomes.

Manufacturing: BREs optimize production processes, quality control, and supply chain management.

Transportation and Logistics: BREs assist in route optimization, fleet management, and regulatory compliance.

When should a Business Rules Engine be used?

A Business Rules Engine (BRE) should be used in the following scenarios:

Complex Decision-Making: When your organization requires complex decision-making processes that involve numerous conditional statements (if-then-else rules), a BRE can help manage and execute these rules efficiently.
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Frequent Rule Changes: If your business rules need to be updated frequently due to changing regulations, market conditions, or business strategies, a BRE allows for quick and easy modifications without extensive IT intervention.
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Consistency and Accuracy: To ensure that decisions are consistent and accurate across different departments and systems, a BRE centralizes the rules and applies them uniformly, reducing errors and discrepancies.
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Regulatory Compliance: In highly regulated industries such as finance, insurance, and healthcare, a BRE helps maintain compliance by automating the application of rules that meet regulatory requirements and creating an audit trail for all decisions.

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What is a Business Rules Engine?

A Business Rules Engine is a software that helps you manage and execute Business Rules. The main advantage of the engine is the separation of the business logic from the hard code. It leads to:

easier maintenance (business users might update the rules by themselves after the initial configuration)
and faster deployment (sometimes there is no need for releasing the new version of the system).

The users might model the rules as (depending on an engine):

decision tables,
decision trees,
functions (code),
DSL (Domain Specific Language),
workflow (with visual graphs modeling).

Usually, Business Rules Engines deliver a user interface in the form of:

web browser app,
desktop native app,
or through Excel.

Business Rules Engine might come as:

a library for the specific language,
or an autonomous component that connects by API.

You can install Business Rules Engines:

on-premise,
or in the cloud.

Can a Business Rules Engine like Higson integrate with my existing system?

Yes, Higson can easily integrate with your existing systems. It offers multiple integration options:

REST API: Higson provides a REST API that allows technology-agnostic integration, enabling seamless communication with various systems.
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Java API: For Java-based applications, Higson offers a Java API, facilitating direct and efficient integration.

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Which Business Rules Engine is the best fit for me?

It depends on several factors:

1) Who is going to use the Engine?

‍Are they business users, technical users, or both? Do they need the user interface? Do they prefer Excel? Higson provides the GUI and supports working in Excel.

2) Do you need to install it on every user's computer?

Some solutions require installing a desktop native application on every user's computer. Others are browser-based (Higson, for instance), and it makes it easier to access the tool.

3) Cloud or on-premise?

Most Business Rules Engines (including Higson) works both ways.

4) How complicated are your Business Rules?

a) Simple (several when-then statements, almost none exceptions, no scoring needed)

Look for tools supporting:

natural language,
decision trees,
and workflows.

b) Medium (hundreds when-then statements, some exceptions, simple scoring)

Look for tools supporting:

natural language,
decision trees,
workflows,
decision tables.

c) Advanced (thousands or more when-then statements, lots of exceptions, advanced scoring)

Look for tools supporting:

highly customizable decision tables,
functions as a flexible addition to modeling.

Higson is the best fit for advanced Business Rules. Decision trees or natural language processors with thousands of rules lose clarity. Decision tables are more straightforward to comprehend. Moreover, functions add unlimited possibilities to modeling.