System-of-Interest
A system-of-interest is any thing that one or more stakeholders (Person) wants to focus their attention on through the lens of a system body of knowledge. The thing that is in focus as the system-of-interest is identified by a set of stakeholders. The system-of-interest is a concrete system based upon the abstract system class.
The thing may not know it is being seen as a system-of-interest. Any-thing can be considered a system-of-interest. The thing knowledge base and the system knowledge base are both applicable to conversations about the thing as a system-of-interest.
Stakeholder / Concern
Once we have identified a thing as a system-of-Interest, we can also identify people who have an interest in the system-of-interest. These people are generally known as Stakeholders or Observers or the observed.
When people are included in the concepts of a system-of-interest, we begin to integrate the concepts of living systems that include the person as a system and the social system. The stakeholders bring the following to the concepts of a system-of-interest:
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their skills, knowledge and experience related to the system-of-Interest.
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their perceptions of the current state of the system and any systemic problems
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Their perception of the future state of the system and any viable system solutions.
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Their values and beliefs about the system that may shape the purpose and outcomes.
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Their understanding of the system based upon their role when interacting with the system-of-interest.
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Stakeholders may be asked to make decisions about the state of a system-of-interest.
The importance of including these stakeholders in the understanding of the system-of-interest will be shown when gaining a shared understanding of a system.
System Breakdown Structure
The structure of a system-of-interest uses the following System Breakdown Structure pattern. The following picture highlights the system-of-interest structure using holon. to reference a simple system pattern.
The system-of-interest uses an abstract system pattern that may form a hierarchy of subsystems (system elements) and system patterns. A subsystem (system element) that is also a system in its own right is called a 'holon'.
Any system that is a part of the system-of-interest may also become a system-of-interest for a different set of stakeholders. The abstract system pattern is a fractal pattern that is also recursive.
The abstract system conceptual model used in this system description is shown in the System Structure Section.
System Classes
System classes provide a way to identify the thing that is becoming the System-of-Interest. The concept of inheritance ensures that any thing being identified as a System-of-Interest will inherit the system concepts and structures of the abstract System - System Class. This provides a common language and structure for identifying the thing as a system.
In addition, the System Class ensures that the architecture and the system life cycle are in line with the needs of the thing. This provides additional features about the class to ensure compatibility with the thing as a system-of-interest. The following model shows the definition of the sysclass category and the way the System Classification model is created.
See the Top Level System Classes or look at the PDF for System Classifncation.
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