Business Rules for MeFBusiness Rules for MeF

By Greg Martinez & Donna MucilliBy Greg Martinez & Donna Mucilli

Business RulesBusiness Rules

Schemas are only part of the Schemas are only part of the story!story!

Industry Manual/ERO Manual Industry Manual/ERO Manual must still be createdmust still be created

Post on state website along with Post on state website along with the XML schema setthe XML schema set

Use Approved TIGERS FormatUse Approved TIGERS Format Goal is to make it easy for Goal is to make it easy for

industry to support the stateindustry to support the state

What are business rules?What are business rules?

Known as error reject codes in Known as error reject codes in legacy systemlegacy system

Use to catch errors that are not Use to catch errors that are not formatting errorsformatting errors

Business rules are not the Business rules are not the spreadsheets used for category spreadsheets used for category based filings.based filings. Those spreadsheets are not Those spreadsheets are not

needed for forms based systemsneeded for forms based systems

Business rules best practicesBusiness rules best practices

Error and Reject codes must be Error and Reject codes must be clearly wordedclearly worded Ideally should be clear to taxpayers as Ideally should be clear to taxpayers as

writtenwritten Avoid using tag names in message textAvoid using tag names in message text

Rules organized by categoryRules organized by category For benefit of agencies & developersFor benefit of agencies & developers

Rule numbers indicate what form it Rule numbers indicate what form it applies to (i.e. – F1040-001 vs. 0123)applies to (i.e. – F1040-001 vs. 0123)

Keep business rules in sync with legacy Keep business rules in sync with legacy system during transition periodsystem during transition period

Generally, follow what the IRS doesGenerally, follow what the IRS does

Types of errors caught by Types of errors caught by business rulesbusiness rules Math rules (A + B = C)Math rules (A + B = C) Required supporting documentsRequired supporting documents Required pdf attachments and Required pdf attachments and

naming conventionsnaming conventions ““Soft” edits that do not reject a return Soft” edits that do not reject a return

(alerts)(alerts) Payment rules for the program Payment rules for the program Due dates and resubmission Due dates and resubmission

windowswindows

IRS business rule categoriesIRS business rule categories

Data Mismatch Data Mismatch Database Validation Error Database Validation Error Duplicate Condition Duplicate Condition Incorrect Data Incorrect Data Math Error Math Error Missing Data Missing Data Missing Document Missing Document Multiple Documents Multiple Documents Not on time Not on time System Error System Error Unsupported Unsupported XML ErrorXML Error

Schema vs business rulesSchema vs business rules

Use schema to prevent Use schema to prevent formatting errorsformatting errors Data exceeds maximum lengthData exceeds maximum length Invalid data for data typeInvalid data for data type Required fieldsRequired fields Records in correct orderRecords in correct order Tag names are validTag names are valid Enumerated listsEnumerated lists

Schema vs business rulesSchema vs business rules

PROs of using schema to validatePROs of using schema to validate Allows developers to self testAllows developers to self test No ambiguity as to error conditionNo ambiguity as to error condition

CONs of using schema to validateCONs of using schema to validate Challenging to communicate reason for Challenging to communicate reason for

validation failure to the usersvalidation failure to the users Many XML parsers throw Many XML parsers throw

incomprehensible error messages!incomprehensible error messages! Use of XPath in error Use of XPath in error

acknowledgmentsacknowledgments

Lean toward schema validation vs. business rules