Business Rules Workflow and Examples

The business rules allow you to set the match string, the target route options, and/or any of the additional built-in options (e.g., cheapest or fastest). The match string is used to evaluate the best option for sending a request based on your institution's needs, budget, priorities, etc. 

Creating Business Rules

Business rules are created using the following elements. The default options are listed below; however, you may have additional options depending on your queues and DSP addons uploaded to the server:

• Rule Number- Number these just as you would routing rules. The business rules are unlimited. Keep in mind that the ordering of the rule numbers is important as the DSP will run these rules in order against the request until a match is found.
• Pipeline- Specify which of the three DSP Borrowing Pipelines to which the rule should apply:
  • Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline (Pre-Copyright)
  • Borrowing Article Pipeline (Post-Copyright)
  • Borrowing Loan Pipeline (Post-Copyright)
• Rule Type- The rule type determines if the request will be sent automatically and routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue if it meets the conditions of the business rule(s) or if it will be routed to Awaiting Pipeline Request Review (Post-Copyright) or Awaiting Copyright Clearance - Pipeline (Pre-Copyright) queue for staff review.
  • Automatic
  • Recommended
• Target Type- The type of target that will receive the request.
  • System - Allow the system to choose a fulfillment target based on certain criteria in the request's FulfillmentData gathered in stage 2, e.g. the fastest or cheapest option
  • Addon - Send the request to a specified DSP addon for fulfillment
  • Route - Route the request to a non-DSP ILLiad queue
• Target - The target is the option being chosen for the recommended or automatic action if the rule is met. The Target options will vary based on the Target Type selected:
  • System Target - Fastest or Cheapest

  • Addon Target - A DSP addon, e.g., the Open Access Button addon

    Note: An Addon Target must be a stage 3 DSP addon. For information on an individual addon's stages, see the addon's page in the DSP Addon Directory.
  • Route Target - A non-DSP ILLiad queue, e.g., DD Stacks Searching
• *Optional: Description- A free text space to describe the purpose of the rule or any additional notes.

• *Optional: Match String- This field allows you to add custom conditions to the business rules. There is no character limit in the match string field.

  Note: Route type business rules will not consider the match string in ILLiad 9.1, meaning that the DSP will always route a request to the specified Route Target if the request reaches that rule in the business rule evaluation stage. As of ILLiad 9.2, the DSP will consider the match string on Route type business rules when evaluating whether or not to route the request to the Route Target.

Examples  

While the example process may seem long, most of the work is done behind the scenes. Staff will only see the request in the Awaiting Copyright Clearance Pipeline queue, Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue, or any queue targets (e.g., DD Stacks Searching) set in the business rules.

Example 1- Cheapest Fulfillment Option

Goal: Obtain an article through the most cost-effective option.

Pipeline(s): Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright & Borrowing Article

Addon(s):

• DOI (Digital Object Identifier); Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline (Stage 1)
• Open Access Button; Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline (Stages 2 & 3)
• Reprints Desk; Borrowing Article Pipeline (Stages 2 & 3)
• CCC Get It Now; Borrowing Article Pipeline (Stages 2 & 3)

Business Rules:

Process: 

1. A routing rule defined in the ILLiad Customization Manager's Routing table picks up the Article request from the Awaiting Copyright Clearance queue and routes it to the Awaiting Pre-Copyright Pipeline queue in the Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline and executes through the following stages: 
   1. Stage 1: The DOI addon uses the DOI on the ILLiad request (if present) to look up and update the article information fields (e.g. Article Title, Volume, Issue, etc.) on the Request Form. 
   2. Stage 2: The Open Access Button addon checks Open Access for availability by DOI, article title, and loan title (if the article title field is blank). If the item is available, the link to the item is pulled into the custom data field of the Fulfillment Data table. 
   3. Stage 3:
      • The DSP will evaluate the request against the business rule defined for the Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline that targets the Open Access Button addon:
        • If the Fulfillment Data record indicates that the item is available through the Open Access addon, then the request will be sent automatically to that addon for fulfillment and routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue.
          
          • If the business rule's Rule Type is alternatively set to Recommended- The request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review with the Open Access addon selected as the recommended action.
        • If the Fulfillment Data indicates that the item is not available through Open Access, then the request will be routed to the Awaiting Copyright Clearance- Pipeline queue to obtain information on alternative fulfillment options.
   4. If the request could not be filled by Open Access, then staff open the request from the Awaiting Copyright Clearance - Pipeline queue and process the copyright for the request as usual using the Copyright Clearance form.
   5. After copyright is processed, the request will be sent to the Awaiting Request Processing queue.
   6. A routing rule defined in the ILLiad Customization Manager's Routing table picks up the article request from the Awaiting Request Processing queue and routes it to the Awaiting Request Pipeline queue in the Borrowing Article Pipeline where it will execute the DSP stages again for the new pipeline:
      1. Stage 1: Skipped. There are no addons registered to this stage. 
      2. Stage 2: The Reprints Desk and CCC Get It Now addons check for availability, pricing, and any additional information they can pull in from the external system, and each addon creates a Fulfillment Data record on the request with this information.
      3. Stage 3: The DSP will evaluate the Fulfillment Data records on the request against the business rule defined for the Borrowing Article Pipeline that targets the cheapest fulfillment option up to $20 (the upper limit for the cost defined in the business rule's match string):
         1. If the Fufillment Data record indicates that the item can be obtained for less than $20 and the business rule's Rule Type is set to Automatic- The addon will send the request to the external system with the cheapest option and route the request to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue.
         2. If the Fufillment Data record indicates that the item can be obtained for less than $20 and the business rule's Rule Type is set to Recommended- The request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review with the external system identified as the cheapest option selected as the recommended action.
         3. If the Fulfillment Data record indicates that the cost for fulfillment will be $20 or more, or if neither addon can fulfill the request, the request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review with no recommended action selected.

Example 2- Automatically Obtain Material for Faculty Members

Goal: Send Rapid-eligible article requests older than five years to Rapid for fulfillment, otherwise send to Reprints Desk for fulfillment if the price is below a pre-defined threshold and the requesting user is a faculty member. 

Pipeline(s): Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright

Addon(s):

• Reprints Desk; Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright (Stage 2 & 3)

Business Rules:

Process:

1. A routing rule defined in the ILLiad Customization Manager's Routing table picks up the Article request from the Awaiting Copyright Clearance queue and routes it to the Awaiting Pre-Copyright Pipeline queue in the Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline and executes through the following stages: 
   
   1. Stage 1: Skipped. There are no addons registered to this stage. 
   2. Stage 2: The Reprints Desk addon runs to check for availability, pricing, and any additional information it can pull in from the external system; adding information to the Fulfillment Data table.
   3. Stage 3: The DSP will run through the business rules defined for the Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright Pipeline, in order sequentially by Rule Number, until a match is found:
      1. The first business rule for the pipeline is evaluated:
         • If the match string is satisfied (i.e., the item is greater than 5 years old, contains an ISSN, and does not contain a lending string), the request will be routed out of the DSP to the Awaiting Rapid Request Sending queue for fulfillment by Rapid. If the item doesn't meet these criteria, then the next business rule will be evaluated. 
           • If the business rule's Rule Type is alternatively set to Recommended and the request meets the match string criteria, then the request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review with the Awaiting Rapid Request Sending queue selected as the recommended routing action.
      2. If the request did not match the first business rule's criteria, then second business rule for the pipeline is evaluated:
         • If the request meets the match string criteria (i.e., it is for a faculty member and the Fulfillment Data record indicates that the item is available through Reprints and costs less than $50), the request will be sent automatically to Reprints and routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue. If the item doesn't meet these criteria, then the request will be routed to the Awaiting Copyright Clearance - Pipeline queue for manual processing.
           • If the business rule's Rule Type is alternatively set to Recommended and the request meets the match string criteria, the request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review with the Reprints Desk addon selected as the recommended action.
   4. If the request was not sent to Rapid or Reprints, then staff open the request from the Awaiting Copyright Clearance - Pipeline queue and continue processing the request manually as usual beginning with the Copyright Clearance form.