S_00001 — Editable rule set in place of hand-written code

kind: solution_catalog
schema_version: 1
solutions:
  - id: S_00001
    proofIds: []
    priority: 40
    name: 'Editable rule set in place of hand-written code'
    status: approved
    mechanism: >-
      Express the operating rules as configuration on a platform built for it,
      rather than as code in an internally built application. A change to how the
      business runs then becomes a configuration change the person accountable for
      the decision can read and revise, instead of a development task queued
      behind whoever maintains the software.
    capabilities:
      - name: 'Rule-based configuration of products, pricing, and workflow'
        classification: native
        conditions:
          - 'The customer has to be able to state its rules explicitly.'
          - 'Rules that were never written down have to be recovered from the incumbent system first.'
        evidence_ids: []
      - name: 'Rule authoring in natural language rather than code'
        classification: native
        conditions:
          - 'Seller-stated on the call and not independently verified.'
          - 'Applies to rule expression; it does not remove the need to decide what the rule is.'
        evidence_ids: []
      - name: 'Module-by-module adoption rather than a single fixed suite'
        classification: native
        conditions:
          - 'Each module adopted still has to be configured for the use case.'
        evidence_ids: []
      - name: 'Extraction of the incumbent system''s data for migration'
        classification: configured
        conditions:
          - 'Requires access to the incumbent database or an export from it.'
          - 'Effort depends on the incumbent''s structure and is not known before inspection.'
        evidence_ids: []
    expected_outcome_hypotheses:
      - 'An operating rule can be changed without a development cycle.'
      - 'The rule set is readable by the person accountable for the decision rather than only by its author.'
      - 'Accumulated behaviour becomes inspectable as configuration instead of remaining implicit in code.'
    limitations:
      - >-
        The approach depends on the customer being able to articulate its rules.
        Where the rule is genuinely unknown, configuration does not recover it.
      - >-
        An incumbent that restricts data access changes the migration effort, and
        that cannot be sized before inspecting the system.
      - 'Nothing here addresses the decision of what the rule should be.'
    prohibited_claims:
      - >-
        That changes are free. The seller described free changes as "a new thing
        that we''re trying out", which is a commercial term under test and not a
        capability.
      - 'That any named incumbent or competing system walls off its data.'
      - 'Any implementation timeline, cost, or effort figure.'
      - 'That configuration removes the need for technical judgement.'