xRM Formula #292 - Custom Rules Log with Friendly Messages

Overview

When working with complex rules it is often desirable to have a log of the rules that were executed and what was the event and field changes that triggered the rules. 

North52 provides detailed trace logging, however, it is designed for technical users to use for troubleshooting or analysing a full audit of how the rules were executed at a system level; they are not intended for a customer service representative (CSR) to find information from.

A CSR may have to answer questions about why and how certain outcomes the system determines to a customer enquiry. For example a customer may query a insurance claim and want to understand why their claim was rejected. By creating a custom rules log in Microsoft Dynamics 365/Dataverse using the North52 business rules engine we can help the CSR easily answer these questions. 

In this article we are extending the ideas presented in xRM Formula #277 - Insurance Claims Adjudication and creating a custom log which has user-friendly messaging. Moving the logging out to a separate table allows us to present a chronological view using the out the box grid view at both the Claim Detail record and a rollup of all logs at the Claim level. 

Rules Log Table

We created an Elastic table to hold the log data as there will be significant storage requirements over time and elastic tables are designed for this. Additionally, the storage costs are much cheaper than data in standard tables.

In our Rules Log table we write to the following columns:

• Claim - Lookup to the Claim record
• Claim Detail - Lookup to the Claim Detail record
• Event - Multi-line text column to store details about triggering event
• Field Changes - Multi-line text column to store information about what fields changed which might influence the rule outcomes
• Description - Multi-line text column to store the friendly log messages for a CSR to easily interpret

 

North52 Decision Suite Solution

For details of how the claims processing rules have been implemented start with the information about the Coverage Rules. 

The North52 Decision Suite solution works like this:

• The Process Rules Formula executes and processes various checks and calculations, building up a friendly log message 
• This then calls a Library Calculation Formula to create a Rules log record with details of the Event, Field Changes and Description passed in as parameters
• The Rules Log record is available to view on the 

Library Calculation Formula

To create the Library Calculation Formula:

• Open the North52 App
• Navigate to Business Process Activities > Formulas
• Create a new Formula, setting the following values in the Formula Guide:
  • Source Entity set to Claim Detail
  • Set Formula Type to Library Calculation
  • Select the Decision Table editor
• Change the Name of the formula to Claim Detail - Library Calculation - Create Rules Log
• Click Save
• Select columns C to F
  • Right-click and select Insert > Insert Action
• Right-click anywhere on the Decision Sheet and select Set Sheet Options > Use Create Record
• Set up the columns to write data to when creating the log record:
  • Click the Explore tab
    • Enter rules in the Explore Data Model search box and press enter
    • Expand the Rules Log (Virtual) table
  • Select cell B2
    • Click on Claim (Value) from the Rules Log (Virtual) sub-tree list
  • Select cell C2
    • Click on Claim Detail (Value)
  • Select cell D2
    • Click on Event
  • Select cell E2
    • Click on Field Changes
  • Select cell F2
    • Click on Description
• Set the values for the columns
  • Click the Source tab
    • Expand the Source node
  • Select cell B4
    • Click on Claim (Value) from the Source sub-tree list
  • Select cell C4
    • Click on Claim Detail
  • Select cell D4
    • Enter [n52demo_claimdetail.event] (this is not a real 'column', but one we specified using the ExecuteFormulaNative() function to pass in as a parameter. The parameter name was event)
  • Select cell E4
    • Enter [n52demo_claimdetail.fieldchanges] (as above this is from the parameter fieldchanges) 
  • Select cell F4
    • Enter [n52demo_claimdetail.description] (as above this is from the parameter description) 
• Click Save

The Formula should look like this and is ready to be called from the Process Rules formula.

Process Rules Formula

We have made the following adjustment to the Process Rules Formula. Instead of writing values into a field on the Claim Detail record we use the ExecuteFormulaNative() function to call our Library Calculation Formula to create a Rules Log

ExecuteFormulaNative('uwK', 
  [n52demo_claimdetail.n52demo_claimdetailid], 
  'false', 
  SetFormulaParameters('description', '❇️ Approved\n------------------------------\n' + {Internal Message}, 'event', [n52demo_claimdetail.MessageName], 'fieldchanges', [n52demo_claimdetail.InputParameters])
)

The Process Rules Formula is bound to an Action which has input Process Arguments of MessageName and InputParameters - these values are passed to the Process Rules Formula (as [n52demo_claimdetail.MessageName] and [n52demo_claimdetail.InputParameters] above) when the Claim Detail - Process Claims Formula (see below) is triggered.

Claim Detail - Process Claims Formula

When Claim Details fields change, the n52demo_CoverageCheck Action is executed (which is bound to the Claim Detail - Action - Process Rules Formula detailed above) and the output of the functions GetInputParameters() and GetMessageName() are passed into the action process arguments (using the SetAttributeAction functions).

Testing

The Rules Log records can be viewed from either the Claim Detail or Claim record, providing the CSR and easy to read view of what decisions were made when the Claim Detail records were updated.

Claim Details Record showing rules logs - hover over row to see detail:

Claim Record showing rules logs for all Claims - hover over row to see detail::