RulesFest 2011 – Mauricio Salatino: Rules, Processes, and Complex Event Processing

Mauricio, aka Salaboy, described in details the Emergency Response System they created.

Complex business situations, such as 911 emergencies, require the collaboration of multiple technologies for better quality of service.  The supporting architecture relies on Process + Rules + Events layered over Procedure Runtime, then Emergency, and finally Company (managing ambulances / resources).

Each component is made of a process engine, a rules engine and a number of event entry points.  The resources can be queried out of a graph database.

The demo scenario is a Fire Emergency.

The operator interviews the 911 caller, eventually based on a rules-driven script.  The information gathered by the operator is dispatched to the expert.  Rules suggest the several procedures that are appropriate.  The Firefighters are notified to dispatch a truck.

On the next call, the operator learns about a heart attack in town.  The expert selects the procedure.  The garage is asked to dispatch an ambulance.

The UI allows to switch context between emergencies and visualize the real-time status update, including GPS positioning of the vehicles and water level in the truck.  As a result, an additional truck can be dispatch when the first fire truck runs out water if the fire is still active.

The ambulance monitoring was pretty cool, with the bio signs generated via a Wii remote.  Based on those biometrics, the ambulance is directed to a local hospital.

Key Points

Salaboy highlights the need for lightweight components.

The (rules + process) integration must be very easy for the user to understand.

Temporal reasoning is key obviously as those systems that are meant to react quickly and efficiently.

Once again at Rules Fest, this year, Knowledge formation get a special mention.  It is very important to have trained to business process and business rules.  I wish we had had a chance to look at the approach they are taking to make it intuitive.

Salaboy is making the point that having all 3 technologies well-integrated out-of-the-box is critical to building those systems.

This application is open-source…  It is a pretty cool starting point to build your own Sim City ;-)

Check the abstract here.