What is the primary advantage of using a decision table over a when rule for automating decisions?

The primary advantage of using a decision table over a when rule is that a decision table is particularly efficient when the decision-making process involves evaluating multiple properties or conditions to derive a result.

Decision tables provide a clear, organized way to represent complex decision logic that involves various combinations of input conditions and corresponding outputs. This is especially useful when you have a large number of properties to evaluate simultaneously, as decision tables lay out the conditions in a structured format that is easy to read and manage. Each row in a decision table corresponds to a unique combination of property values, and it helps in visualizing the output for each combination.

When using when rules, while they are useful for straightforward conditional logic, they can become cumbersome and difficult to manage or understand when multiple properties need to be checked simultaneously. When rules are typically evaluated sequentially, making them less efficient for complex decisions that require numerous conditions to be considered at once.

In summary, the ability of decision tables to systematically handle and articulate multiple properties allows for clearer decision-making paths, making them advantageous when many conditions must be evaluated in decisions.