Online Help Home > Admin > Policy Administration > Rulesets for Strategies > Getting Started with Rulesets

Getting Started with Rulesets

Overview

A ruleset consists of one or more rules. Each rule is based on a customer, Accounts Receivable, or invoice attribute and one or more conditions. For each condition, for invoices that satisfy the condition, you select either a next rule to evaluate or the workgroup or segment assignment to make. If an invoice doesn't satisfy a condition, it is evaluated by the next condition for the rule.

When defining rulesets, it is recommended that you begin by defining the entire ruleset on paper. When you conceptualize a ruleset, begin by listing the segment or workgroups you have defined and listing the attributes associated with assignment to each segment or workgroup. Each attribute will be a rule. The rule conditions determine how invoices that match certain attribute values are assigned.

For example, if invoices are assigned based on the customer's total accounts receivable balance, you will have a rule based on the attribute Total Accounts Receivable. You would create conditions for invoice amounts that you treat differently and then assign the invoices based on the conditions (A/R amounts) they satisfy.

If you want to assign invoices based on more than one attribute, you would define a rule for each attribute and then have the result of one rule be evaluation by the second rule.

For example, if assignment depends on the invoice matching conditions for business type and total accounts receivable, make evaluation by the rule based on business type be evaluation by the rules based on total accounts receivable.

When a rule has multiple conditions, the first condition satisfied is accepted. Conditions are evaluated in the order that you enter them. Therefore, if it is possible for an invoice to satisfy more than one rule condition, it is important that the conditions you consider most important are entered first.

Enter the ruleset into eCredit after you have conceptualized the entire ruleset and have entered the strategies and segment to which the ruleset makes assignment. When you enter the ruleset into eCredit, add rules that are at the bottom of the ruleset first. By working from the bottom of the ruleset up (that is, from the rules that make assignments up), you are able to select the next rule for the ruleset because you have already defined it.

Use the information in the following sections to help you plan your workgroup and segment rulesets: