View: Viewpoint Relationships

Answers the question: What viewpoints are required?

The viewpoints have been grouped into two perspectives:

• Identity Perspective
• Dynamic Perspective

These two perspectives provide the set of viewpoints for the System Description Architecture Description Framework

The viewpoints that have been identified for the System Description Architecture Description Framework are:

• Identity Perspective.
• System Name and Class Establishes the name of the system-of-interest and the base class.
• System Purpose: Establishes the purpose of the system-of-interest. There may be many reasons for being.
• System Structure (Pattern of Organization): Identifies the system elements and their relationships
• Dynamic Perspective
• System Environment Identifies the elements of the system environment that have an impact on the system-of-interest.
• System Properties Identifies the properties of the whole that are not found in any of the system elements. These properties are only seen when the system-of-interest exists and is operating or alive.
• System Behaviour (Structural Changes) Identifies the way the system-of-interest responds (process) to meaningful triggers or disturbances.

The living system equivalents section highlights terminology differences across disciplines. The following terms have equivalences in this model:

• Living System: Generally characterized as open to the flow of energy, matter and information and closed operationally.
• Pattern of Organization: The pattern of organization is a description of the components, or parts and their relationships. This is usually referred to the structure of a system. The typical pattern is a network pattern.
• Structurally Determined: As a living system is closed operationally, a living system responds to a meaningful trigger or disturbance (event) through a sequence or process of changes that are structurally determined. This response is constrained by the structure or pattern of organization.
• Structural Coupling: Autonomous living systems are structurally coupled. This means that they can raise a meaningful trigger or disturbance to another living system but cannot define the change that will occur. The living system will respond to the disturbance with appropriate structural changes.
• Structural Changes: In response to a meaningful trigger or disturbance, the system carries out a sequence or process which may alter the structure based upon the type of change. This may result in a response that may change the state of a system, create a condition where the same occurrence may cause a different response (learning effect) or may create novelty or creativity and improve or alter the identity of the system.
• Context: Meaningful disturbances that arise from structural coupling come from the environment.
• Dissipative Structure: A dissipative structure can form in living and non living systems to form a repeatable process / structure that transforms material, energy and information. This structure forms dynamically in the living system in response to a meaningful trigger or disturbance. This dissipative structure creates order and moves the system to a place far from equilibrium. The dissipative structure forms a type of process through the various system elements.

The following System Conceptual Model has the mapping of the Ontology Elements to viewpoints. This is a recommended way to identify viewpoints from the Ontology Elements.