Overview Corticon provides next-generation business rule engine (BRE) software targeted at the needs of business process management (BPM). The Corticon Platform enables the enforcement of policy-based rules across critical business processes, and consists of two main components: the Corticon Studio and the Corticon Server. The Corticon Studio is the world's first analyst-friendly development environment for capturing policy-based rules as executable decision-making services, offering a revolutionary advance in ease-of-use relative to traditional products. The Corticon Server enables one-click deployment of business rule specifications as Web Services, and offers compelling performance and scalability advantages over traditional BREs. The Corticon Decision Management Platform includes: Corticon Studio The Corticon Studio is a rich and comprehensive suite of tools used to capture and formalize mission-critical decisions into sets of interrelated business rules, known as Corticons. The Corticon Studio has been designed specifically with the business user in mind. No programming skills are necessary to capture, validate, test and manage decision-intensive business activities.

Corticon Deployment Console:

Corticons created in the Studio are technology-agnostic components that encapsulate the decisions of a business process activity. Using the Deployment Console, a Corticon Deployment Manager (typically an IT role) can deploy the Corticons into the environment of choice, depending upon the preferences of the customer and the system requirements. The Deployment Console automatically generates the necessary code to wrap the Corticon as a standard component for the chosen environment.

Corticon Server:

The Corticon Server enables the automation and processing of Corticons within existing enterprise information systems. Based on Enterprise Java (J2EE), XML and Corticon's proprietary Decision Management Software technologies, the Corticon Server provides scalability across a number of measures including data, processes, rules and transactions.

Fundamental Premises: The ABCs of Automated Decision Processing

Corticon was founded as a company based upon the following three fundamental premises, which guide our product development and define our competitive differentiation:

1. Policy-based business rules can and should be automated.
   BPM products are excellent at managing the flow of work across a process. But if policy-based rules are being enforced by people, you're not achieving true process advantage. To ensure consistent and cost-effective enforcement, business rules can and should be automated.
2. Business people can and should manage the business rules.
   The traditional approach to business rules is to code them (using Java, Stored Procedures, or BRE rule languages). Then, to expose parameters that enable business change (e.g. "Preferred customers get an X% discount", where X is a parameter managed by the marketing department). BREs make it easier to build "Rule Maintenance Applications". But invariably, when the business wants to change the rules in non-parameterized ways, the Rule Maintenance Applications break down. True process advantage comes when the business has full control over its executable business policy, and not only programmer-defined parameters.
3. The hardest part about automating business rules is getting them right.
   Overlooking this simple fact has caused innumerable failed projects using traditional BREs. Simply externalizing rules for business people to change is not adequate. In process automation, the rules need to be consistent, without conflict, without gaps, and without loops - otherwise, the process breaks. Discovering logical problems in the rules through programmer-driven test cases, or incoherent reports, does not deliver agility. What is required is the analysis of the rules for correctness at design time, and the visualization of errors in a way that business people can readily understand and address.

Corticon Delivers Unique Value To Customers and Partners

Corticon can deliver process advantage to:

• Enterprises across a broad range of business process improvement initiatives.
• Business consultants and system integrators by using Corticon early in the engagement lifecycle, providing higher quality business specifications and dramatically reducing implementation costs.
• VARs and System integrators looking to build out reusable decision assets for their clients.
• Independent Software Vendors looking for a high degree of configurability in their business domain rules.