**Editor's note: This is an excerpt from the book "Business Process Management with a Business Rules Approach: Implementing The Service Oriented Architecture," by Tom Debevoise. Order the book here.

From Introduction

Can you imagine a business, government agency, or nonprofit organization that does not incorporate business processes into its operation? Every enterprise mission is defined by the processes' cyclical series of operations. Computer systems support many of these processes, and systems need accurate information to decide what to do. These decisions mediate the flow of information between the actors in the enterprise. In the steps of the business process, managers and information technology (IT) personnel refer to such mediators as business rules. Business rules specify how an entity will use information in its decision-making process. Because business rules trigger critical decisions, and an organization's mission is achieved through the use of business processes, both need to be thoughtfully captured and preserved. If it were possible, wouldn't it be worthwhile to preserve business processes and business rules with software?

From Chapter One

Transition to the Way Forward
There are many benefits to building a composite application in an SOA. If you do it right, you can be competitive, and customers and trading partners will want to do business with you. I have found that this new environment is more agile and less costly to build and maintain. What you need is a method for getting there. My suggestion is to use a composite method-one that combines BPM and business rules.

PROCESS FOR A COMPOSITE METHOD
Creating and running the IT environment is a process. In the spirit of BPM, we consider a process that uses BPM and business rules to do this differently from IE or OOSE. The difference is that you view systems, such as ERP, as a provider of services. With BPM/BR, you define how your business uses the services.
The BPM/BR is a method that combines business rules, business process management, and architectural approaches. Collectively, these bring business rules, business processes, and other IT parts together in one step. In the same spirit, the BPM/BR encourages businesses to use COTS software.