Modernizing IT Infrastructure: Gain Agility with a BRE

With rules changing quickly in healthcare and other industries, a Business Rules Engine can be a vital tool for increasing business agility.

Regulations and policies governing health and human services can be very complex, and at the same time they are changed and adjusted frequently. Anyone trying to make decisions based on this changing set of rules knows they need to be flexible and agile. Without the ability to adapt quickly, it can be impossible to keep up, resulting in delays that harm governments and citizens alike.

Use the A-87 Exception to Take Advantage

Change can be hard to bring about, particularly when upgrading a program as large—and expensive—as those that manage healthcare services. The A-87 exception provides an opportunity to greatly reduce the cost for a state looking to do things more efficiently.

This governmental provision allows states to receive federal reimbursement of up to 90% for upgrading certain applications with Commercial-Off-the-Shelf technology. The idea was to help states modernize their systems, upgrading legacy architecture and improving their services.

A key technology that is eligible for this funding is a Business Rules Engine (BRE), which can help automate complex business logic and dramatically simplify the management of complex rule sets.

Benefits of a BRE for both State Agencies and Citizens

One of the biggest advantages of implementing a BRE is that the business logic is exposed, so that the business decision makers and subject-matter experts can make changes themselves. This makes it far easier to execute changes on a real-time basis, avoiding time-consuming delays while waiting for IT to update core systems.

This works out to a large benefit for citizens using the systems as well. When a change is implemented that affects them, they’ll be able to find up-to-date resources more quickly, removing a common pain point. Additionally, when they have a question about eligibility, an audit trail can be created that makes it easier to understand the reasons behind their denial or approval.

Learn More About How It Works in Action

Jared Linder, CIO at the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, recently explained in a webcast how the State of Indiana is using the Progress Corticon BRE to:

• Make better use of government workers’ knowledge and experience prior to retirement
• Meet evolving citizen demands and expecta­tions for services and their delivery
• Give users the flexibility to implement changes directly into the systems, improving code quality and accelerating development

Want to learn more? Read about the highlights and biggest takeaways from the webcast in this Digital Dialogue, Agile and Efficient Citizen Services.