Establish Business Rules and Operational Policies (32)

Description:

The following activities, described in the Concept of Operations building block, develop rules for business operations. Business rules are, from a technical perspective, basically system requirements, but they cover business considerations instead of technical considerations. Business rules need consistency with, and are considered in the context of, system requirements. Business rules may be merged with the system requirement specifications document.

Details:

Establishing business rules and operational policies is an essential component of setting up a RUC program. These rules/policies should include, at a minimum, rules for the following:

  • Compliance/enforcement
  • Minimum payment options to be supported and payment rules
  • Any rules on interoperability with other states and/or systems
  • Any rules on support for underbanked and unbanked customers
  • Any rules on discounts/exemptions
  • Numerical rounding rules for web portals and customer statements

Primary Use:

Specify business interactions in the RUC system.

Best Practices/Lessons Learned:

  • When possible, specify variable values as changeable parameters.
  • The vendor will decide on any business rules the state does not specify. Therefore, the state must specify all aspects of system behavior it wants to regulate.
  • Keep rules minimal to allow vendors to innovate and keep costs low, but develop sufficient rules to achieve the performance that the state desires.
  • For all parameters included in the business rules, specify approximate ranges and default values.
  • If the RUC program will be folded into an existing program, ensure that the RUC business rules do not contradict the business rules of the existing program.
  • Keep business rules and operational policies as consistent as possible for commercial and noncommercial vehicles. However, good reasons may exist for some differences.

State Government Context and Assumptions:

The implementing RUC agency completes this task, following the assembly of the Concept of Operations building block, in coordination with the development of the specification documents. These documents include system requirement specifications, interface control documents, and the business requirements document.