Systems eng for managers-cheat sheet
Notions of ‘systems’ as ‘complex wholes’ abound; ‘systems of interest’ to engineers are understood in a distinctive way. We reveal our systems thinking through language, images, models, specifications & references that assist understanding. We rely on ‘user‐judged’ words such as system, project, risk, network, reliability, environment, need, effectiveness. Their meaning is socially constructed – even within a single discipline. System a system is a set of interrelated components working together towards some common objective or purpose.System Concept System is something that maintains its existence and functions as a whole through interaction of its parts. Hierarchy and Emergence The notion of hierarchy suggests that every system has a CONTAINING SYSTEM, and in turn contains other systems. When entities combine in some relationship properties and capabilities emerge which none of the entities, by itself, possesses. Communications and Control “information” is transferred between entities and between the system and its environment. A system retains its identity through feedback and control. Holism System have Aggregates (When we have a set of entities such that at least one subset of entities is not related to every other subset, then we have an aggregate of entities) ; what missing from aggregates found in systems; the sense of organic wholeness/the need for emergent properties/the need for maintenance of identity/So a system is not just any collection of stuff. System Must have Elements/Interconnections/A function or purpose Function the outcome and behaviors of the system Function due to structure (Characteristic Action) occurs because of entity interaction/independent of observer/a product of “design”/in the solution domain/Mission function (Defines desired emergent properties) due to human intent/dependent on observer/in the problem domain State The state of a system at a moment of time is the set of relevant properties which the system has at that time. A