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The Rage Enterprise Framework
The Rage Enterprise framework relies on an intuitive,
structural model of a business process / function and its
relationship software components.
Metaphorically, we view every business function as a
collection of interrelated business processes and each
business process as a collection of business tasks.
Each business task can be viewed to have a correspondence
to an abstract Rage component. The correspondence between
tasks and abstract components is in the form of data.
The powerful idea in Rage Enterprise is that application
logic can be substantially reduced to data and modified
at any time.
The solution capabilities of the framework are defined
by the set of pre-built abstract components in the
framework supplemented with external components. The
framework is extensible and external components can
be plugged in. The Rage component framework is quite
comprehensive and enables the development of a broad
array of sophisticated, powerful BPA solutions/applications
for any industry.
The framework has two types of components: functional
and flow. Each functional component mirrors a dimension
of functionality that is commonly needed in a contemporary
application. An example is the 'Connector Factory'
which enables the creation of connectors to integrate
heterogeneous systems. Many applications need to integrate
data from multiple systems and will need to connectors
to connect these systems. The Connector Factory allows
for the implementation of connectors purely through
modeling and without generating any code. All the
functional components in the framework are listed
below:
| Component |
Component |
| Rule |
A
comprehensive ability to implement conditional
logic using database fields, intermediate information
generated in the process |
| Decision
Tree |
Model
and deploy decision trees; chain rules, computational
expressions |
| Model |
Create
computational expressions purely through data
to the model component; use database fields, process
information and transformations |
| Model
Network |
Create
a network of computational expressions chaining
them using conditional logic; often needed for
pricing, premium or similar business applications |
| Connector
Factory |
Integrate
heterogeneous systems with a variety of file structures/
protocols by creating connectors using the Connector
Factory |
| Extraction |
Extract
data from unstructured documents, e.g., corporate
filings with the SEC |
| Questionnaire |
Implement
questionnaires in a flexible way |
| Computational
Linguistics |
Sophisticated
interpretation of textual content, including news,
against ontological models |
| Assignment |
Easy
creation of intermediate information (variables)
in a business process |
| Database
Access |
Easily
create database access logic |
| Document
Builder |
Define
rules to create word documents dynamically |
| External
Object |
Integrate
external code bases, stored procedures, scripts,
etc. |
On top of these pre-built components, one can derive
new components through the use of these basic components.
In addition to functional components, Rage Enterprise
provides the following flow components to allow the
application designer to model and deploy business
processes:
| Component |
Component |
| Line |
To
allow the application designer to connect business
tasks in a business process; can be binary or
multi-valued depending on the tasks being connected |
| Annotation |
Document
the business process so it is readable and easily
understood |
| Loop |
To
allow the application designer to implement the
repeated execution of a collection of business
tasks |
| Branch |
To
branch execution in a business process based on
conditional logic |
| Synchronize |
To
force synchronization in a case where multiple
execution threads are active in parallel |
Solution Frameworks
While the framework outlined above with its built-in
abstract components and its extensible architecture
can enable the development of any business application,
we also have several application frameworks built
using the above components that can further accelerate
application development. Application frameworks are
specifically focused on specific business problems
and are meant to be modified so they can service specific
client needs.
Automated Underwriting
The Rage founding team practically invented flexible,
rule-based automated underwriting solutions in the
early 1990s and has successfully implemented such
solutions in 30 of the Fortune 50 including such global
corporations like American Express, Fleet [now Bank
of America], Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard,
Chevron, Texaco, Cargill, to name a few. Our automated
underwriting framework can be implemented to support
business to business, business to consumer underwriting.
We have pre-built connectors for many credit information
bureaus around the world. Our model component grew
out of our significant experience implementing credit
risk scorecards of different kinds. We also have significant
expertise in credit risk assessment which is reflected
in proprietary credit rating algorithms at an industry/sector
level.
Analytical Processes
Broadening the Automated Underwriting framework, we
have a powerful framework for supporting the development
applications that involve analytical processes. Today,
we have many successful BPA solutions that involve
intelligent automation and exception management by
humans. These involve pricing, rating, and ranking
applications. The application framework for analytical
processes also supports rule-based generation of analytical
text.
Data Quality
Data quality is a common issue in many business contexts.
The Data Quality framework grew out of Rage BPA solutions
involving the validation of mission critical account
statement data in the context of financial services
organizations. The framework has extensive connectors
to many popular information sources and has sample
connectors to internal systems. It also recognizes
context specific identification data in capital markets
like ticker, cusip, sedol, etc. The framework allows
the application designer to continually enhance the
quality assurance rules as new rules and issues are
discovered.
Data Extraction, Integration and Processing
The Data Extraction framework accelerates the development
of any application which needs the extraction of data
from unstructured documents. The framework has built-in
support for financial data extraction from corporate
filings and annual reports and textual data extraction
from documents. The framework offers strong support
for normalizing the extracted data and downstream
processing of the raw or normalized data.
Real Time Content Integration, Interpretation
The Real Time Content integration framework provides
integration to thousands of news and content sources
globally. It allows new sources to be added easily.
Content integrated from these sources can be interpreted
using a set of semantic rules and context-specific
ontological models. This framework can accelerate
the creation of real-time online content.
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