Business Logic

Business Logic refers to the underlying processes within a program that carry out the operations between a company’s servers and the user interface with which that company's customers interact. Business logic is more properly thought of as the code that defines the database schema and the processes to be run, and contains the specific calculations or commands needed to carry out those processes. The user interface is what the customer sees and interacts with, while the business logic works behind the UI to carry out actions based on the inputted values.

Business Logic vs Business Rules
Business logic is often mistaken for something that encapsulates the business rules implemented in a system. There is an important difference between the two. Business rules are a formal expression of business policy, while business logic determines how this policy is implemented as a process. For example, the application of VAT on invoices is a business rule but the calculations involved in applying it are implemented as business logic. The catch is that the separation between business logic and other parts of the system is not necessarily that clear. Many business rules need to be implemented across more than one tier. For example, a business rule that dictates that negative figures should always be presented on financial reports affects both data processing and report writing, i.e. presentation and business logic. This is one of the drawbacks of tiered or layered architectures that seek to isolate business logic into a separate tier. It can be difficult to meaningfully segregate functionality into a self-contained tier depending on the type of processing that is being carried out. Over the long term this “business logic” often leaks across tier boundaries so the implementation of business rules becomes scattered across a system. This gives rise to anti-patterns such as “shotgun surgery” where any change in a business rule requires numerous changes in different parts of the system.

See Also

Business
Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business Application
Business-Driven Development (BDD)
Business-to-Business Gateway
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Business Accelerator
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
Business Analysis
Business Analytics
Business Application
Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI)
Business Architecture
Business Asset
Business Capability
Business Capability Modeling
Business Ethics
Business Case
Business Centric Methodology (BCM)
Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Business Cycle
Business Diversification
Business Driven Technology
Business Drivers
Business Ecosystem
Business Environment and Internal Control Factors (BEICF)
Business Excellence
Business Expansion
Business Function
Business Function Model
Business IT Alignment
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Business Incubator
Business Insurance
Business Integration
Business Intelligence
Business Interruption Insurance
Business Life Cycle
Business Logic
Business Management System (BMS)
Business Model Innovation (BMI)
Business Model for Information Security (BMIS)
Business Motivation Model (BMM)
Business Objects
Business Operations
Business Oriented Architecture (BOA)
Business Mission
Business Vision
Business Model
Business Goals
Business Objective
Corporate Structure
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy)
IT Governance
Enterprise Architecture
IT Sourcing (Information Technology Sourcing)
IT Operations (Information Technology Operations)

Further Reading

• How and Where is Business logic Implemented? javaranch
• Business Logic Vulnerability owasp.org