An approach for distinguishing a business rule from a non-business rule in a computer program is provided. A rule in the program is identified based on a conditional statement within the rule. Whether the rule performs underlying operation of the program independent of a business function of the program is determined. The rule and metadata of the rule are searched for a key word which indicates part of a business transaction. Whether a sequence of program steps in the rule matches a predetermined sequence of program steps indicative of a business rule or whether the sequence of program steps in the rule matches a predetermined sequence of program steps indicative of underlying operation of the program independent of the business function of the program is determined. If the rule is a business rule is determined based on both determining steps and both searching steps.