I am currently working on a Traceability Matrix (Excel Template), that begins with a "Business Rule" column. A business rule is a precise statement of intent expressed in terms like "The user must be able to..." or "The application must manage client information in accordance with...", etc. A business rule is expected to be atomic, so that only one action is possible and ambiguity is elimintated. I quote the following definition I read earlier today on a website: "Business rules can be anything your organization uses to make an operational decision. ...enterprise, divisional, corporate and line of business policies, ... calculations and formulas, risk thresholds adn regulatory authorizations."

With such a broad definition it becomes hard - at least in my mind - to distinguish clearly between business rules and functional requirements.

Sometimes the difference is pretty clear. E.g.: BR -> "The application must have filtering capabilities for modules A, B and D." FR -> "The application shall provide a "Site Name" based filtering criteria within the "Aggregate Level Services" reports in the "Reports" module."

Other times its not so clear. E.g.: BR -> "If the gender is male and the age is under 26, and the marital status is 'single' then the person is considered 'High Risk'" FR -> "If the gender is male and the age is ...".

So at times a business rule translate almost verbatum to a functional requirement; at other times it maps one-to-one to a functional requirement, and at other times a busines rule maps to more than one functional requirement.

Does this make sense - i.e. seem reasonable to everybody? And what other views exist out there? Thanks for reading and looking forward to your replies.