RULEIDs

RULEIDs are unique, persistent identifiers used to reference individual rules within regulatory, policy, or software rulebases. They provide stable references that survive edits, refactors, or migrations, enabling traceability, auditing, and cross-system communication. A RULEID is typically assigned when a rule is created and remains associated with the rule across versions unless the rule is deprecated or retired.

Most RULEIDs include a prefix indicating the rule domain (for example, POL for policy, QA for quality assurance) followed by a code and, in some schemes, a version or date component. Formats range from simple alphanumeric strings to more formal schemas such as urn:rule:domain:code:version. Metadata commonly attached to a RULEID includes the rule name or description, author, creation and last-modified dates, status, and a brief rationale for the rule.

Governance around RULEIDs is maintained through rule registries or catalogs, with change control, deprecation policies, and mappings to external standards. Practices such as aliasing or redirection are used when rules evolve, and documentation updates plus deprecation notices help preserve clarity and traceability.

Applications of RULEIDs span several domains. In rule engines, they are used to reference rules in decision logs, explainability interfaces, and audit trails. In compliance and policy management, RULEIDs link rules to regulatory requirements and control objectives, enabling impact analysis, reporting, and reproducibility of decisions. Overall, RULEIDs support consistency, governance, and interoperability across rule-driven systems.