CB1004 Modelling Business Systems 11 Modelling Business Systems Format of the module Assessment What is a system?

CB1004 Modelling Business Systems 1

1

Modelling Business Systems

Format of the moduleAssessment

What is a system?

CB1004 Modelling Business Systems 1 2

Contact DetailsSandi DuffyRoom 607CEmail: [email protected] or [email protected]: 0151 231 2110Website: http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/sandiduffy


Status of ModuleCore

Information SystemsMaths and Stats

ElectiveComputer StudiesSoftware EngineeringMultimedia Systems


Where Modelling Business Systems sits

Modelling Business Systems

Data Analysis Small Business Systems


Format of the moduleLecture/Tutorial slot of 3 hoursFirst 3 weeks

LecturesForm into groups of 4General discussion on the coursework

Next 9 weeksPresentations from groups on coursework so far

Counts towards coursework mark

Lectures on follow up topics


Assessment Coursework 50%

Enrolment and induction system

Exam 50%2 hours May


This weekWhat is a system


What is a SystemUse the concept of a bounded system of linked componentsSystem = a collection of elements that represent relatively fixed parts of the situation, at the finest level of analysis we want to go to


Some elements

Ruth Phone

Exchange

Phone John


Structure of the situation – grouped into subsystems

Exchange

Phone John

John’s house

Ruth Phone

Ruth’s house


Then Add connecting links that indicate the changing flows, influences and causal connections that bring the structure to life – its process

Dials connection made bell rings

answers


To produce

Ruth Phone

Exchange

Phone John

John’s house

Ruth’s house


ButLots of things in Ruth's house, John’s house, the world have little or nothing to do with Ruth phoning JohnNeed boundary to mark off those components that are part of the system and those that are not


John

Ruth Phone

Exchange

Phone

John’s house

Ruth’s house

Cat

System boundary


Principles for drawing boundaries

Exclude components that have no functional effect on the systemInclude items that can be strongly influenced or controlled by the system or its owner, as you must understand how they work

Items that influence the system BUT cannot be influenced or controlled by it may need to be put outside the system, in its environment as you only need to know their effects


John

Ruth Phone

Exchange

Phone

John’s house

Ruth’s house

Cat

Charge rates

Environment


Position the boundary either to enclose or to exclude complete clusters of relationships not to cut across them

Minimise the number and complexity of cross-boundary relationships


Milkman

Dairy

Phone

John’s house

John

Exchange

Phone

Ruth Ruth’s house

Cat

Charge rates

Child


Provide a description to depict the situation

Totally open system – the environment is so important that the system merges into it, has an arbitrary boundary, no stable identity, so hard to manage or plan forTotally closed system – self contained, with no environment. It is not influenced by external events, cannot intervene and could not serve any useful external purposeReality is somewhere in between


Temporary closureFor dormant periodsDefensive retreatInternal reorganisation


System descriptionsPartly subjective and ‘private’

Hence different people ‘paint’ different pictures

NeedName of the systemPerson(s) who own the system and named itWhat was their special interest in describing the system


People Systems

Ruth Ruth phoning John

System engineer 0151 231 repair system

standard diagnostic procedures

repair optionsequipment in vanjob record


Levels of analysis and resolution

Hierarchy - from highBroad scope

Regional sales strategy - marketing info, demographic factors, labour agreements etc

Course resolutionMonthly sales rates. Current charges etc

Long time scaleStructure e.g cable networksProcess e.g installation rates


HierarchyTo low

Ruth phoning JohnLimited scope – one connectionFiner resolution – Ruth, John, phonesShorter timescale

Structure – phone installationProcess – lasts one phone call


Types of SystemMore than one type may occur within a system

Natural systems e.g animals, weatherAbstract systems e.g planning modelsDesigned systems e.g telephone hardwareSystems of human activities e.g Ruth phoning telephone engineer


Soft vs. Hard SystemsSoft systems

Involve emotional reactions, personal values and shifting expectationsPersonal not technicalUsed for ‘people’ systems e.g. holiday decision making system

Sometimes use for complex and unpredictable machines or complex ecosystems


Soft

There’s nothing I hate more than nothing

Nothing keeps me awake at nightI toss and turn over nothingNothing can cause a great big fight

Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians


Soft vs. Hard cont.Hard systems

Precise, well-defined, quantitativeUsed where things can be measured, modelled and behave predictably e.g. car system

Highly routines human activities can be described this way


Hard

When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it. When you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, you knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kindLord Kelvin


Uncertain

All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don’t know from what you do; that’s what I called ‘guessing what was at the other side of the hill’.Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington


So some systems are more tangible than othersSome systems exist only in the mind of the ‘owner’

Car, travel times. routes, hotels, contacts are a system in the mind of a sales repOther system descriptions are more predictable in practice

Monk, civil servant, industrialistAgree on low level systems e.g. making toastDisagree on high level systems e.g. governing the country


Why?Different ultimate goalsDifferent criteria for what is acceptable en routeDifferent theories about how events affect one another, all equally plausibleDifferent uses of language


Where there are more tangible links….

May get similar descriptions from different groups of people

Villagers of differing backgrounds will describe ‘village communications’, village friendships’, ’village employment’ similarly


Complex and fast changing systems

Occur in the ‘real’ worldBeing overwhelmedTrusting to fate

Need to ‘go with the flow’


What holds a system together

Control – stops degeneration


Control – various typesSelf-maintaining causal network

Ecosystems of tropical rain forestStable for millennia, no sense of purpose, no special controller, no free choice, no grand designHold the same state indefinitely until destabilised by outside influences


Other simple networks

An expandingvillage attracts

resources

Additional resources

stimulate growth


A visible track attracts people

to use it

A used trackis visible


Types of control cont.Purposive control

Purpose without choiceMigrating bird

Purposeful controlPurpose with choice

Controlled human activity involving decision making and control

Emphasis on which ‘control’ depends on personal beliefs and values


Adaptive & non-adaptive control

Adaptive (Feedback or closed loop) control

Information about the results is fed back to a controller and adjustments made accordingly

Non-adaptive controlSystem is set up correctly and reliably in advance so subsequent checking is not necessary


Both need:Knowledge about the system to judge the effects of possible actionsAwareness of the needs the controller is trying to achieveComplex systems need:

Overall co-coordinator and day to day control


Needs? Come from the practical needs of a situation

ObjectivesI must complete the coursework

TacticsSpend the weekend in the library

More subjective approachGoals

I want to be a millionaire

Strategic planInvent a new operating system


Weltanschauung Goals may arise from broader polices or principles

Ideological analysis of why things are as they are

Broader and more subjective guidelines > barely conscious blend of cultural pressure, personal attitudes, wishes and perceptions > appreciative system generating your values and priorities> ‘world view’ structuring the way you see things


So we all have ‘world views’

Recognising broad influences is difficult

Usually evident when we meet someone with a different world viewHunches/ gut reactionsFeelings that ‘pieces are coming together’


Harmonising world viewsPeople can limit their options to converge on a shared directionAttempt to synthesize a shared direction

Negotiation and bargaining

Quantify the alternatives


The PeopleAgent (or agency) – person(s) trying to get the action goingClient – commissions the agent, pays the feeProblem owner Gate-keepers – control channels or operations on which action will dependPower figures – who prevent or allow the actionSuppliers, users, customersRegulatory officials


Good systemic model descriptions

Others feel they can make sense of the experience and its contextThey can use it as a framework around which they build their actionsTheir expectations are appropriate and there are unlikely to be surprises


Stages on the journey

Here There

Fluid

Consolidated

AnalysisUnderstanding the

present situation

Inventive searchIdentifying best goals and routes

GroundworkPreparing the

existing system for change

ImplementationExecution of

agreed construction or transformation


When do we work in which style

Logical sequenceFluid > consolidated and here > thereHence Analysis > Inventive search >

Groundwork > ImplementationHoweverThe whole process is iterative, so any

sequence can occur


Looked atStructure of a systemPurpose of a systemControl of a systemRolesStages in the journey


Next few weeksAnalysisInventive searchGroundworkImplementation

CB1004 Modelling Business Systems 11 Modelling Business Systems Format of the module Assessment What is a system?

Documents

system slide

topics slide

effects slide

induction system exam

milkman dairy phone

boundary relationships

assessment coursework

coursework mark lectures