Rules of the Road

Recently, I developed the standards for cross-platform reporting. Mobile, kiosk, photo marketing, and other module data could uniformly flow in a standardized format to any authorized, subscribing analytics, CRM or other system. I called this documented integration, “the rules of the road”.

The standardized flow of data relied on all internal teams, external vendors and clients agreeing to abide by a set of standards, with the TCO exponentially lower than the custom reports that all parties were previously accustomed to.

Oftentimes, a microcosm can be construed to the macro level.

A week after I finalized the standard, President Obama addressed the nation with his “Rules of the Road” speech. Business and finance should create new standards for monetary transactions, he asserted. If all players agree to abide by documented rules, the benefits will be greater reportability (transparency) and a lower-risk financial environment.

“Rules of the Road” is just the strategy we need to create a standardized business environment with an auditable flow of funds through the market. With these documented “rules of the road”, a microcosm of the economy could be built out in software using standard “business rules” (perhaps using Oracle’s BEA suite). This software environment could simulate the economy with money, like data, flowing through the system from end-to-end. With automated “business rules”, lawmakers would actually be able to test the impact of policies on the flow of money through the economy before enacting policies into law. Eventually, each tagged unit of money could be tracked on its path through the economy – how is that for accountability!

The current state of “hit or miss” would be replaced by a new strategy, “test and know”.