IDIOM Products
IDIOM's byline is 'business rules for business people'. This reflects the natural inclination of business people to interpret 'business rules' as 'automated decision-making'. IDIOM is the business persons business rule tool - according to industry guru James Taylor, "the most business centric" business rules tool in the market.
IDIOM offers 2 products - the flagship IDIOM Decision Manager, and the IDIOM IQ Workbench, an add-in product. IQ Workbench includes IDIOM Forms and IDIOM Document Manager
 

IDIOM Decision Manager

IDIOM Decision Manager is the original decision automation tool. It provides an intuitive graphical interface to build and test models of business decision making [decision models], including specification of the underlying business rules. The decision models can be defined by subject matter experts, analysts, and/or developers on their standard desktop computers.

A repository server is available in the full-license versions of IDIOM Decision Manager that manages multiple concurrent design-time users, and the various design artefacts that they share and work with. The repository server offers concurrent design use, audit logging of design changes, and other enterprise level infrastructure support. The design interface supports both inline step by step testing and file based regression testing, using test documents that can be built directly within the tool, or provided by external sources. The IDIOM supplied testing infrastructure is sufficient to completely test decision models for the 3C's - completeness, consistency, and correctness. When each decision model is tested and ready for deployment, the IDIOM repository server can generate the decision models into multiple forms:
  • computer source code (Java and/or C#);
  • 'logical English' suitable for a business audience;
  • a schema defined XML document.
Source code for a wide range of integration wrappers is provided free to allow the generated code to be easily integrated into any platform - or, it can be simply used inline. All runtime code is supplied in source code form, and the compiled executables can be deployed anywhere, anytime without additional cost or license.
 
The 'Decisioning - a new approach to Systems Development' article provides a conceptual basis for the IDIOM Decision Manager.

IDIOM Decision Manager's key points of difference are:
  • IDIOM's Decision Model concept is market leading and supported by the strong conceptual framework of the decisioning article.
  • The Decision and Formula palettes are unique, attractive, and easy to use GUIs.
  • IDIOM is useable by subject matter experts, business analysts, or developers - "the most business centric" business rules tool in the market. IDIOM is NOT integrated with, nor built on, a developer tool framework.
  • IDIOM generates source code, including Java and Microsoft's C# (Compact Framework may also be available for some applications, please contact us if you require Compact Framework).
  • IDIOM does not require a licensed runtime engine for runtime execution - you are free to deploy IDIOM generated code on a global basis to any number of devices for any number of users.
  • Large scale business problem solving - for instance, the majority of insurance system code can be generated by IDIOM - NTI FOCUS is a large scale IDIOM user
  • IDIOM generated code is easily implemented in many ways (for instance, inline method calls, web services, queue services, dlls, and application plug-ins - examples include standard Java and MS frameworks, Portrait, Singularity, XSOL, Domino, Flex, Jade, CA-Plex), which means low architectural impedance.
  • Adapters are easily built for any business processing tool (many are already built and reference code supplied free by IDIOM), meaning easy integration with most Business Process Management tools.
  • Runtime independence of the decision models encourages sharing and re-use of decision models (incl both design and/or runtime assets) within new multi-party or wide area processes.
With IDIOM you do not need to sacrifice your IT strategy to get the benefits of automated decisioning.
 

IDIOM IQ Workbench
IDIOM IQ Workbench is a business tool that enables subject matter experts, business analysts, or developers to build and maintain processes as webservices. The IQ Workbench GUI provides an interface for these process designers to assemble and configure a range of activity types into processes that are bespoke in terms of both appearance and behavior. All IQ Workbench runtime code is either generated or pre-built for lower cost and improved reliability. As with IDIOM Decision Manager, source code is accessible for all runtime artifacts so that your technology independence is retained. The IQ Workbench designed processes combine the power of IDIOM Decision Models with webforms and document components to allow an organization to deploy and execute more complex and valuable business transactions - transactions like underwriting and issuing insurance policies, evaluating and approving local body planning consents, or approving medical referrals.
 
Processes can be built, configured, tested, and deployed from the IQ Workbench by subject matter experts, business analysts, or developers to create versatile, fully auditable, cost effective 'automatons' that can be deployed to any Microsoft or Java based platform or point of service, to generate value for the organization quickly, safely, and at low cost, 24*7.
 
The IDIOM IQ Products Briefing provides an in-depth explanation of the IQ Workbench product.
 
The IDIOM IQ Workbench is a modern Microsoft SQL Server based design tool that includes a GUI that is used to configure the many activities of a business transaction into a single process for one-step deployment. This process often corresponds to a 'product' transaction, for example, sale of an insurance product. Deployment is typically to a web service, including cloud based web services.
 
The IQ Workbench key points of difference include:
  • Fully integrated decision models for process control, forms control, document control, and for implementing business policy;
  • Highly functional Forms Builder allows construction of sophisticated multi-tab and/or table based reflexive webforms;
  • Readily extensible through user supplied templates, resources, and handlers;
  • Includes the novel 'circumstance' concept to drive document generation;
  • A complete process can be built and deployed without writing code;
  • Plays directly to the SOA and Cloud based strategies that are becoming increasingly popular.

Product Benefits

IDIOM Product Benefits - Corporately Structured End Users
Improved 'time-to-market' and business agility:
  • Allows dynamic, business driven process optimization when IDIOM decision models are used as a 'remote control' for driving application behavior.
  • Orders-of-magnitude faster business product or process development.
  • New information based products can be built in days, not months.
Improved management and auditability of systems across the business-IT divide:
  • Separation of responsibilities between decision-making and process execution improves business unit ownership, and coordination of business and systems development and maintenance activities.
  • Provides full and ongoing business visibility and auditability of all rule changes from design through to runtime.
  • Decision-making IP is managed as an explicit, valuable business asset.
Improved development performance reduces IT costs and risks:
  • Smaller, faster, safer projects.
  • Improved analysis and design outcomes when using IDIOM's Decision Centric Development Approach™ creates more agile systems.
  • Encourages simpler and more stable infrastructure engineering that lowers long term TCO.

IDIOM Product Benefits - Software Vendors
Enhanced product customization and flexibility:
  • Use rules to 'mass-customize' existing code and frameworks - build once, sell many.
  • Develop alternate decision models for bespoke regional, market, and/or customer differences.
  • Use decision model templates to efficiently manage best practise and rule variations across many regional, market, and customer versions.
Improved development performance:
  • Orders-of-magnitude scale increase in development performance - 1 hr of analysis using IDM can generate up to 500 lines of C# or Java (up to 10 function points/hr) - tested and ready to go.
  • Improved analysis and design outcomes when using IDIOM's Decision Centric Development Approach™ creates more agile systems.
  • Improve auditability, management, and reuse of core IP.
  • Improve developer responsiveness to change requests.
Improved vendor customer outcomes:
  • Vendor customers can sub-license IDIOM Decision Manager for customer managed rule changes that are controlled by the vendor application.
  • Provide best practice decision models that the customer can adapt to their needs - a degree of independence that increases dependence!