Rule Matching

When a user makes a booking, the system evaluates it against the policy's rules. Understanding how rules are matched helps you create effective policies.

The Matching Process

1. Get user's effective policy
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2. Filter rules that match the booking criteria
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3. Sort matching rules by budget threshold (descending)
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4. Evaluate each rule for violations
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5. First rule with violations → determines action
   No violations in any rule → ALLOW

Step 1: Policy Resolution

First, the system determines which policy applies to the user:

1. User-specific policy (if assigned and within effective dates)
2. Role-based policy (if assigned to user's role)
3. Company default policy (fallback)

See Policy Hierarchy for details.

Step 2: Rule Filtering (Location Matching)

The system filters rules to find all that match the booking's location criteria.

Flight Rule Matching

A flight rule matches if ALL of the following conditions are true:

Matching hierarchy for origin/destination:

1. City specified → must match exactly
2. Country specified (no city) → must match country
3. Neither specified (null) → matches any (wildcard)

Hotel Rule Matching

A hotel rule matches if the location matches:

Step 3: Sorting Matched Rules

After filtering, matching rules are sorted by budget threshold in descending order (highest budget first).

For flights, this considers duration-based tiers:

• The system calculates the effective budget for the flight's duration
• Rules are sorted by this duration-adjusted budget

Why descending order?

The system evaluates from highest budget to lowest. The first rule where the booking exceeds the limit triggers a violation. This ensures the most permissive matching rule that still has violations is selected.

Step 4: Violation Evaluation

Each matching rule is evaluated in order until a violation is found.

Flight Violations

Hotel Violations

Step 5: Action Determination

Duration Tier Evaluation

For flight rules with duration tiers, the system:

1. Gets the flight's duration in hours
2. Finds the matching tier range
3. Uses that tier's budget/cabin limits for evaluation

Budget Tier Example

• 2-hour flight at $500: Uses 0-3hr tier ($450) → Price violation
• 5-hour flight at $600: Uses 3-7hr tier ($650) → No violation
• 10-hour flight at $900: Uses 7+hr tier ($1,000) → No violation

Cabin Tier Example

• 4-hour flight, Business class: Uses 0-5hr tier (Economy only) → Cabin violation
• 6-hour flight, Premium Economy: Uses 5-8hr tier → No violation
• 10-hour flight, Business class: Uses 8+hr tier → No violation

Complete Example

Policy rules (after matching a Baghdad → Dubai flight):

Booking: Baghdad → Dubai, $600, Premium Economy

1. Filter: All 3 rules match (Baghdad is in Iraq, Dubai is in UAE, flight is international)
2. Sort by budget (desc): $1,000, $700, $500
3. Evaluate $1,000 rule: $600 < $1,000 ✅, Premium allowed ✅ → No violations
4. Evaluate $700 rule: $600 < $700 ✅, Premium allowed ✅ → No violations
5. Evaluate $500 rule: $600 > $500 ❌ → Price violation, Premium not allowed ❌ → Cabin violation
6. Result: Violations found on $500 rule → Use that rule's action (or policy default)

Priority vs. Budget Sorting

Priority (set in the dashboard) controls:

• Display order in the UI
• Which rule is considered "primary" when multiple match

Budget sorting (during evaluation) ensures:

• The most restrictive applicable limit is enforced
• Violations are detected at the appropriate threshold

In practice, specific routes (Priority 10) typically have lower budgets than catch-all rules (Priority 100), so the two orderings often align.

Best Practices

Always Create a Catch-All Rule

Without a catch-all rule (matching "All flights" or "All hotels"), bookings that don't match any specific rule will use the policy's default action with no violations — effectively allowing them.

Route: All flights
Budget: $2,000
Cabin: Economy, Premium Economy
Action: (use policy default)

Order Budgets from Specific to General

Use Duration Tiers for Long-Haul Flexibility

Don't set a single budget that's too low for long flights or too high for short flights:

Base: $500
Tiers:
  0-4 hours: $450
  4-8 hours: $700
  8+ hours: $1,200

Test Your Rules

Use the policy preview feature to verify rule matching:

1. Go to Policies → Assignments
2. Select a user
3. Enter sample booking details
4. See which rule matches and what violations would occur