Advantages of Rule Engines:

Greater flexibility: keeping your rules into a Knowledge base let you ADAPT easily your decisions when they are changing.

Easier to grasp: Rules are easier to understand than procedural code so they can be effectively used to bridge the gap between business analyst and developers.

Reduced complexity: When embedding lots of decision points to your procedural CODES it can easily turn your APPLICATION into a nightmare. On the other hand rules can handle much better increasing complexity because they use a consistent representation of business rules.

Reusability: By keeping rules are kept in one PLACE leads to a greater reusability of your business rules. Also, TRADITIONAL procedural code often impose unnecessary variations of base rules which are therefore more difficult to reuse in other contexts.

Advantages of Rule Engines:

Greater flexibility: keeping your rules into a Knowledge base let you adapt easily your decisions when they are changing.

Easier to grasp: Rules are easier to understand than procedural code so they can be effectively used to bridge the gap between business analyst and developers.

Reduced complexity: When embedding lots of decision points to your procedural codes it can easily turn your application into a nightmare. On the other hand rules can handle much better increasing complexity because they use a consistent representation of business rules.

Reusability: By keeping rules are kept in one place leads to a greater reusability of your business rules. Also, traditional procedural code often impose unnecessary variations of base rules which are therefore more difficult to reuse in other contexts.