In today’s dynamic business landscape, organizations must adapt quickly to regulatory changes, customer demands, and operational nuances. To meet this challenge, Salesforce has introduced the Business Rules Engine (BRE) as part of its Industry Cloud offerings—enabling enterprises to define, manage, and execute complex business logic with greater flexibility and transparency.
The Business Rules Engine is a powerful no-code/low-code framework designed to give business users direct control over decision-making logic within Salesforce applications—without relying solely on custom development.
What is the Business Rules Engine?
The Business Rules Engine is a configurable tool that allows users to create and manage rules that influence system behavior, calculations, eligibility checks, validations, and workflow decisions. These rules are stored and executed natively within Salesforce, ensuring tight integration with industry-specific processes and data models.
Built on the Salesforce Platform and aligned with Industry Cloud standards, BRE provides a centralized and modular approach to implementing business logic that is both transparent and easy to maintain.
Key Features and Capabilities
1. Declarative Rule Authoring
Business users and administrators can define rules using intuitive, spreadsheet-style interfaces—no coding required. This empowers non-technical stakeholders to drive business logic updates independently, reducing reliance on IT resources.
2. Rule Services and Execution Contexts
Rules can be grouped into Rule Services and invoked through flows, Apex, or APIs. Whether determining product eligibility, pricing adjustments, or compliance checks, these services ensure rules are executed consistently across the application.
3. Versioning and Simulation
Every rule and rule set can be versioned, allowing organizations to test changes before deploying them to production. Simulation tools provide a safe environment for validating rule logic against sample data, minimizing risk and ensuring business continuity.
4. Seamless Industry Integration
BRE is tightly integrated with Salesforce Industry Clouds such as Communications, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Energy. It works alongside standard industry data models and supports process automation, guided experiences, and case management.
5. Scalability and Maintainability
By abstracting business logic from code and embedding it into a centralized rule repository, organizations gain agility in maintaining rules. Updates can be made without deploying new code, enabling faster responses to policy changes, market shifts, or regulatory updates.
Use Cases Across Industries
- Telecommunications:Determine product bundling eligibility based on customer profile and location.
- Healthcare: Automate pre-authorization checks or coverage validations.
- Insurance: Implement underwriting rules that evaluate risk factors and generate quotes dynamically.
- Financial Services: Validate loan eligibility or determine compliance with financial regulations.
Implementation of Telecommunication Use Case
To demonstrate the power and flexibility of the Business Rules Engine, we implemented a use case in the Telecommunications industry: Auto-assigning a Support Executive and Manager based on the customer’s city. This logic was configured using a Decision Matrix without writing any code. Below are the step-by-step details:
Step 1: Create a New Decision Matrix
We began by creating a new Decision Matrix in the Business Rules Engine workspace.
- Navigate to Business Rules Management.
- Click Lookup Tables.
- Click New and select Decision Matrix.
- as the Lookup Table Type and Click Next.
- Enter Name, SupportAssignmentMatrix and Select Type - Standard.
Step 2: Define Input and Output Columns
Once the Decision Matrix was created, we defined the input and output columns.
- Input Column: City (Text) – This represents the city of the customer.
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Output Columns:
- SupportExecutiveName (Text)
- SupportManagerName (Text)
- SupportManagerContact (Text)
These columns define the criteria and corresponding actions the rule will return based on the input.
Step 3: Add Rows with Data
After defining the structure, we populated the matrix with data.
Each row in the matrix represents a rule scenario:
This data ensures that when a user selects a city name, the appropriate values are retrieved and the relevant personnel are auto-assigned based on predefined logic.
Step 4: Create an OmniScript
- Go to the OmniStudio App in Salesforce.
- Navigate to OmniScripts under the OmniStudio section.
- Click New to create a new OmniScript.
- Fill in the basic details:
- Name: OS_Telecommunication.
- Type: Choose a relevant type - OS.
- Sub Type: Telecommunication.
- Language: English
- Version: 1
- Active: Yes
- Click Save to open the OmniScript canvas.
Step 5: Add Steps (Elements) to OmniScript
Now, you can add interactive elements (like form inputs) and decision logic to your script.
Add a Step Element:
- In the OmniScript Designer canvas, drag the Step element onto the canvas.
- Enter name: CustomerInfo.
- Enter Field Label: Customer Info
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Inside this step, drag and drop Input Fields (Text Type) where the user can enter the customer city.
- Field Name: City
- Field Label: Enter City Name
Add a DecisionMatrix Action:
- Enter name: CustomerProfileBasedCity.
- Enter Field Label: Customer Profile Based City.
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Matrix Input Parameters
- Data Source: CustomerInfo:City
- Filter Value: City
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Remote Properties:
- Matrix Name: SupportAssignmentMatrix
Add another Step Element:
- In the OmniScript Designer canvas, drag the Step element onto the canvas.
- Enter name: ShowResult.
- Enter Field Label: OutPut Result.
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In this step, drag and drop the Text Field so that when the user searches for a city name, the related information is displayed.
- Field Name: SupportExecutiveName
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Field Label: Support Executive Name
- Field Name: SupportManagerName
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Field Label: Support Manager Name
- Field Name: SupportManagerContact
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Field Label: Support Manager Contact
Step 6: Test the OmniScript
- Click Preview in the OmniScript canvas.
- Enter a test city like "Delhi"
- The script should invoke the Decision Matrix and display.
To test the functionality, I searched for details of another city — for example, Bangalore. The relevant information was displayed accurately, confirming that the data is being fetched correctly. Since the Data Table was already added in Step 3 for verification, it helped validate whether the results matched the selected city.
Driving Agility and Compliance
The Business Rules Engine brings greater agility to enterprises by enabling business-led configuration of critical logic. It supports compliance and governance by making rules auditable, version-controlled, and easy to update. In heavily regulated industries, this capability is invaluable for responding swiftly to policy and regulatory changes—without complex release cycles.
Conclusion
The Business Rules Engine is a cornerstone of Salesforce’s Industry Cloud strategy, offering a scalable, declarative solution to managing complex business logic. By putting control into the hands of business users while maintaining transparency and system integrity, BRE accelerates innovation, reduces time-to-market, and enhances adaptability across industry-specific processes.
For organizations aiming to streamline operations, reduce risk, and enable true business agility, the Business Rules Engine is not just a feature—it’s a strategic advantage.
Got questions? Feel free to drop an email to support@astreait.com