A computer-implemented method, apparatus and computer-readable medium to provide selection advice during rule processing to guide a user to configure a product or service according to a rule characterized by a ZDD rule model having one or more Include and/or Exclude rules. The method aspect includes displaying on an I/O device multiple attributes having enumerations that identify possible configurations; selecting enumerations of the attributes; determining a selection advice for enumerations selected in said selecting step; combining the selection advice in order to produce a result; communicating the result to a user; and then using the result to configure the product or service. Another aspect includes, based on user selections, removing nonessential information inherent in a relevant rule set and propagating (determining in advance) selection advice based on values of other related rule components.