When you are building a rule, it is often in the context of a very specific situation. Hence it is a good idea to record the reasons why you needed to build this rule, plus any additional information associated that may be useful later when you are browsing the project. This information could include technical references, guidelines, or standards.

This information will help you or someone else at a later stage who might need to maintain the project..

Objectives provide a way of recording this information. For a new knowledge base, it is a good idea to document the objectives of the knowledge base before you start adding rules. You can do this using the Objective Editor. Then when you build a rule, you can select the objective that this rule implements. You can then use the Project Explorer to see which objectives have been implemented in rules, and how each objective has been implemented.

You can also define or edit an objective when you are actually in the process of building a rule.

A particular objective can be further detailed as a set of specific items (i.e. more detailed objectives). You can associate either an objective or one of the items of an objective with a rule.