Decision Management Systems: A Practical Guide to Using Business Rules and Predictive Analytics

Product Description

"A very rich book sprinkled with real-life examples as well as battle-tested advice.”
—Pierre Haren, VP ILOG, IBM

"James does a thorough job of explaining Decision Management Systems as enablers
of a formidable business transformation.”
—Deepak Advani, Vice President, Business Analytics Products and SPSS, IBM

Build Systems That Work Actively to Help You Maximize Growth and Profits
Most companies rely on operational systems that are largely passive. But what if you could make your systems active participants in optimizing your business? What if your systems could act intelligently on their own? Learn, not just report? Empower users to take action instead of simply escalating their problems? Evolve without massive IT investments?

Decision Management Systems can do all that and more. In this book, the field’s leading expert demonstrates how to use them to drive unprecedented levels of business value. James Taylor shows how to integrate operational and analytic technologies to create systems that are more agile, more analytic, and more adaptive. Through actual case studies, you’ll learn how to combine technologies such as predictive analytics, optimization, and business rules—improving customer service, reducing fraud, managing risk, increasing agility, and driving growth.

Both a practical how-to guide and a framework for planning, Decision Management Systems focuses on mainstream business challenges.

Coverage includes

• Understanding how Decision Management Systems can transform your business
• Planning your systems “with the decision in mind”
• Identifying, modeling, and prioritizing the decisions you need to optimize
• Designing and implementing robust decision services
• Monitoring your ongoing decision-making and learning how to improve it
• Proven enablers of effective Decision Management Systems: people, process, and technology
• Identifying and overcoming obstacles that can derail your Decision Management Systems initiative

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 4 and Index)

Table of Contents

Foreword by Deepak Advani     xv
Foreword by Pierre Haren     xviii
Preface     xix
Acknowledgments     xxiii
Part I The Case for Decision Management Systems     1
Chapter 1 Decision Management Systems Are Different     3
Agile     4
Analytic     8
Adaptive     15
Chapter 2 Your Business Is Your Systems     19
Changing Expectations     20
Changing Scale     23
Changing Interactions     25
Chapter 3 Decision Management Systems Transform
Organizations     29
A Market of One     30
Always On     33
Breaking the Ratios     36
Crushing Fraud     39
Maximizing Assets     41
Maximizing Revenue     44
Making Smart People Smarter     45
Conclusion     46
Chapter 4 Principles of Decision Management Systems     47
Principle #1: Begin with the Decision in Mind     48
Principle #2: Be Transparent and Agile     57
Principle #3: Be Predictive, Not Reactive     60
Principle #4: Test, Learn, and Continuously Improve     63
Summary     67
Part II Building Decision Management Systems     69
Chapter 5 Discover and Model Decisions     71
Characteristics of Suitable Decisions     72
A Decision Taxonomy     81
Finding Decisions     87
Documenting Decisions     99
Prioritizing Decisions     111
Chapter 6 Design and Implement Decision Services     115
Build Decision Services     116
Integrate Decision Services     147
Best Practices for Decision Services Construction     152
Chapter 7 Monitor and Improve Decisions     157
What Is Decision Analysis?     158
Monitor Decisions     159
Determine the Appropriate Response     167
Develop New Decision-Making Approaches     176
Confirm the Impact Is as Expected     184
Deploy the Change     187
Part III Enablers for Decision Management Systems     189
Chapter 8 People Enablers     191
The Three-Legged Stool     191
A Decision Management Center of Excellence     196
Organizational Change     206
Chapter 9 Process Enablers     211
Managing a Decision Inventory     211
Adapting the Software Development Lifecycle     215
Decision Service Integration Patterns     221
A Culture of Experimentation     222
Moving to Fact-Based Decisioning     228
The OODA Loop     232
Chapter 10 Technology Enablers     235
Business Rules Management Systems     235
Predictive Analytics Workbenches     238
Optimization Systems     243
Pre-Configured Decision Management Systems     244
Data Infrastructure     247
A Service-Oriented Platform     255
Epilogue     263
Bibliography     267
Index     273