This may seem like a simple, novice question...I guess I feel that way sometimes...

I'm having a hard time understanding the difference between a business rule and a requirement (functional or other). Can someone point me in a direction or with examples to clarify this?

Is there a type of thing being documented as a business rule versus a functional requirement?

Is there a specific type of syntax that is used or differentiates a business rule from a requirement?

When are business rules collected and what do they lead to (use case names, other requirements, etc.)?

Thanks for help (and this forum has given me plenty of help and things to think about daily)...VO

[Later...got some interesting responses...which you can't see yet because of the forum's archaic browsing scheme which I've already ranted about.]
3:53:19 PM    comment []  Google It!  

"Sometimes the customer does ask for certain features that are really design decisions, and I prefer to denote these requirements as 'Design Preference' as I record them (so I can sidestep analysis of them, but they come back into consideration during design). Sometimes the customer asks for things he doesn't really need - it's useful to be aware of these requests in case they start adding a lot of extra expense."

Amen! I sure like the name 'Design Preference' as opposed to the term we use in our SRS: 'Design Constraint'. I'd bet that our customers would like it better also.
3:17:16 PM    comment []  Google It!  

Will's blog looks like it's going to cover some things that I'm covering in my Vince Outlaw's Tech News blog. Looks like we might have a community going on here!

I don't believe anyone's blogrolled me before. Thanks Will!

BTW, VO's Tech News serves a dual purpose for me. It gives folks that are interested in my tech take a place to go without all that other gall-darned New Jazz Stuff getting in the way (my main blog gets it all in it's attention deficit glory). AND I use the VO Tech News RSS feed to feed my intranet blog using the Multi-Author Weblog Tool. I post to my home copy of Radio (over the internet, no less), route tech stuff to VO Tech News, and my copy of Radio at work (intranet) subscribes to it and posts it to my intranet blog (iBlog) using Multi-Author. Single post, multiple publish. And I'm building a resume of tech knowledge both inside and outside. Don't tell anyone...
2:35:37 PM    comment []  Google It!  

Don's favorites include a Miles Davis record on Prestige featuring the tune "I Could Write a Book" and Bobby Timmons take on "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". He also is a publisher and has a goal of preserving the music of great song writers like Richard Rodgers. Should be interesting to talk to!

Bill Charlap is playing in Don's band this week but won't be able to join us...this time. We'er talking about a future appearance on TNJT! Stay tuned!!
1:59:17 PM    comment []  Google It!  

VO: Do you have any favorite or recommended Jazz versions of Rodgers compositions?

LW:Absolute favorites:
Blossom Dearie: Surrey with The Fringe on Top
Ella: Bewitched
Favorites in their original versions:
Many a New Day and Oh What a Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma!
GOD THEY'RE GORGEOUS!!!!

VO: Why is the music of Richard Rodgers so special and enduring?

LW: What a complicated question. The best songwriters in my opinion find a perfect balance between bare, honest lyrics, poetry and melody...each one holding as much weight as the other. Rodgers and Hammerstien or Hart musicals to me are perfect like that. As a singer, the words are easy to pull feeling from, and the melodies are just plain fun to sing!!!!

Can't wait to talk to her again!!
12:52:04 PM    comment []  Google It!  

He recently produced and performed on The Richard Rodgers Centennial Jazz Piano Album and has loads of his own discs, including a previous Plays Rodgers and Hammerstein disc. It will be an honor to talk to this great piano player.

From a 1997 article (with quotes by someone at the R&H Org I just met today and comments on Coltrane's 'My Favorite Things'...must go back to this one) about the Rodgers and Hammerstein disc...

"As Hersch states in his introduction to the album, "Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote the first popular music I had ever heard. Long before I played (or even knew about) jazz, their songs were part of my musical world."

1:07:06 AM    comment []  Google It!