Decision table basics
The decision table technology has been developed since 1957 in the USA by a project group at the General Electric Company.
Later on, the CODASYL (Conference On Data Systems Languages) also dealt with the development of a system-oriented programming language based on decision tables.
The theory of decision tables was systematically worked out in the following years and their field of application ranges from analysis over program draft up to generation of program code.
This method makes it possible to avoid serious disadvantages of conventional approaches. Decision tables are limited to the representation of decision rules. They very clearly describe the decision situation, i.e. precisely those sub-processes that cannot be represented adequately enough using conventional methods.
Tables (not only decision tables) are always clearer and therefore easier to understand than a verbal representation of the same content.
A decision table is limited to a minimum of symbols and symbol relationships, making standardization easier and providing excellent documentation of problem analysis and solution.
Today, we speak in general of a decision table technology. The decision table is standardized worldwide as a descriptor for formalizable decision-making processes, e.g. in DIN 66 241 or CSA Z243.1-1970.