Action Formulas

As an alternative to the Rules Engine idea, I wonder if IBM could enhance Maximo formulas by creating an "Action Formula" mechanism.

Attribute formulas and object formulas already have most of the functionality that we’re looking for when it comes to the Rules Engine idea. There is surprising amount functionality available to formulas...since they use the same expression engine as MBR. For example, I can currently use a formula to prevent a WO from being closed if it's missing actuals -- by using the ERROR() function to throw an error if certain conditions are met.

The only thing that would need to be added to the formulas mechanism is the ability to use Actions. If we could use actions in formulas, then we'd essentially have a new mechanism: Action Formulas.

In other words, rather than populate a field via an Attribute Formula, we would instead run an action via an Action Formula. But this wouldn't be the same thing as escalations...which run on a schedule. We don't want action formulas to run on a schedule. We would want them to be executed on-save, just like how Attribute Formulas currently work. It's extremely beneficial to do certain things on-save, rather than on a schedule via an escalation.

The obvious benefit to running actions from formulas, rather than writing automation scripts, is we could avoid writing excessive amounts of code, which is a significant issue for many organizations. Not to mention the fact that automation scripts aren't supported by IBM.