Designing Socio-technical Systems

We argue that socio-technical systems can be understood as complex adaptive systems, that is, systems containing component sub-systems interacting such that they co-evolve This viewpoint may allow us to understand more clearly the factors that underlie the complexities of socio-technical systems, and allows for a new approach to systems design predicated on unpredictable adaptive processes. System designers, we argue, need to seek to understand the underlying structures, drivers and nature of change within the system and of the system as a whole. This paper presents an outline of the complexity mechanisms that operate within socio-technical systems, and illustrates the concepts and system design implications by way of a case.

Given that user involvement is important in system design, this study addresses the as yet unexplored question of how a user should be involved in the system design process. Two radically different processes of interaction between a systems designer and a manager were compared in an information system design exercise. In one interaction process, the designer conducted a traditional interview of the manager. He asked questions, analyzed data and made suggestions. In the alternative interaction process, there was an initial sharing of information and mutual suggestions, followed by a critique of each other's suggestions. The study found that for this ill-structured problem: The alternative interaction process produced higher quality designs with important implementation advantages. The two interaction processes produced designs which used different types of organization control strategies. These results may be due to a problem finding contingency—different processes of interaction may help to define different problems, and thereby produce different, but equally rational, solutions. For the management of organization design, the process of interacting with users has important implications for the quality of the resulting design, the type of organization control strategy employed, and the subsequent implementation of the system.

With the latest gaming systems such as X-box, Playstation 3, PSP, IPTV, and H264 requiring more bandwidth, packaged in smaller devices, and providing higher quality, in return they evacuate more heat and consume more power, thus making power consumption and thermal dissipation a major issue for chip designers in the nanometer era.Thermal effects on the chip and package is the next wave. First, there was signal integrity. Then power integrity and now, there is a new first-order effect in the horizon for IC and system designers called thermal integrity. And the traditional design methodology of using uniform temperature across the chip is becoming woefully inadequate and provides insufficient data to the package and system designers, unable to meet the requirement and demands of the consumer. To better understand the impact of temperature variation on chip's performance, both power distribution and package characteristics must be considered in the design and analysis flow. Likewise, a realistic view of the heat distribution across the chip is becoming essential for package and system designers. What makes the analysis of signal, power, and thermal integrity effects challenging is that they must all be considered concurrently across the entire chip, which requires novel approaches to mitigate the issue.The panel will discuss how urgent is the impact of thermal integrity on system designs and is this a real concern or are we making it up?When and under what condition will it become urgent, and is it related to process nodes, low power applications, type of packaging used, etc.? Is there specific design techniques used for more specific multimedia processing? Can you separate the IC design from package and system designs with some assumptions or is co-design the only way? How accurate is the industry's understanding of the physics of the chip (device), interconnect, and package? Is thermal integrity a first order or second order effect?Given the other variations from nominal, how important is this.The moderator will conclude with a summary of the panelist comments and be able to make a forward-looking statement about the future of power and heat and their impact on system design.

This chapter introduces project management as a pivotal tool that underpins successful information systems design. It argues that the strength of the human-dimension of human-computer interaction (HCI) is often omitted by system designers. It discusses some of the issues that arise when dealing with a multi-disciplined project team. These include dealing with a non-conventional learning context, the challenge of designing an appropriate learning design and instructional architecture. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the underlying principles of effective conflict management throughout the process of systems design will inform others of a better communication methodology for dealing with difficult behaviour when designing an information system. It is also hoped that this discussion will assist in the understanding of the intricate and interactive relationships that arise between the different elements of HCI.

The ‘top‐down’ system design process of functional decomposition is increasingly being criticised as simplistic, outmoded, and (in particular) too ‘reductionist’. Its use on large, complex systems is frequently portrayed as naive and impractical. There is much comment on the need to concentrate, instead, on the ‘emergent behaviours’ of systems, and to adopt a ‘holistic’ design approach in which a system solution is ‘evolved’ through a process of system design synthesis.This paper presents a counter‐argument that top‐down design decomposition can, in fact, be a highly efficient way to produce good (optimal) system solutions .Many of the fundamentals of function based system design are addressed: the central role of system function in the design process; the characterisation of system complexity and complication; the identification and specification of component requirements; and the determination of optimal design solutions.An established mathematical theory of systems design, using formal constructs and set‐theory notation, is used as the basis for the presentation of ideas.

Discrete event simulation as an ergonomic tool to predict workload exposures during systems design

Traditional approaches to manufacturing systems design utilize a sequential procedure that focuses on production capacity requirements, with human operator task design developed late in the systems design phase. Implementing manufacturing systems in this way is difficult when operations management must design flexible and efficient processes, with an often incomplete understanding of how people can best perform within the system. This study developed an integrated methodology that uses both manual and computer simulations to evaluate system performance and ergonomic issues early in the system design process. Information about operator performance and ergonomics is obtained in the manual simulations, while estimates of operator utilization and system throughput is obtained through computer simulations. An iterative design process is used, with the results of manual and computer simulations informing each other during subsequent simulations. An industrial case study is presented here to demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology. The results show that the methodology can be used to design manufacturing systems with significant savings in labor cost and improved manufacturing system flexibility. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 19–40, 2003.

This article frames the requirements definition phase of systems design as a problem of knowledge transfer and learning between two communities of practice: IS designers and system users. The theoretical basis for the proposed approach is Wenger’s (1998) framework for social learning, which involves three dimensions: alignment, imagination, and engagement. The article treats the requirements definition task in systems design as a set of activities involving mutual learning and knowledge transfer between two communities of practice (CoP) along these three dimensions. In taking this approach, the article maps the results of past research on the systems design process onto this CoP framework and illustrates that the proposed framework encompasses the same activities used by traditional methods of requirements definition. However, this approach focuses attention on the learning that must take place between the two CoPs and thereby helps resolve some of the inherent shortcomings of prior efforts and approaches. The framework provides both a more encompassing conceptual lens for research on improving the requirements definition task and practical guidance for managers who are charged with a systems design project.

Electric drive systems consisting of battery, inverter, electric motor and gearbox are applied in hybridor purely electric vehicles. The layout process of such propulsion systems is performed on system level under consideration of various component properties and their interfering characteristics. In addition, different boundary conditions are taken under account, e. g. performance, efficiency, packaging, costs. In this way, the development process of the power train involves a broad range of influencing parameters and periphery conditions and thus represents a multi-dimensional optimization problem. Stateof-the-art development processes of mechatronic systems are usually executed according to the V-model, which represents a fundamental basis for handling the complex interactions of the different disciplines involved. In addition, stage-gate processes and spiral models are applied to deal with the high level of complexity during conception, design and testing. Involving a large number of technical and economic factors, these sequential, recursive processes may lead to suboptimal solutions since the system design processes do not sufficiently consider the complex relations between the different, partially conflicting domains. In this context, the present publication introduces an integrated multi-objective optimization strategy for the effective conception of electric propulsion systems, which involves a holistic consideration of all components and requirements in a multi-objective manner. The system design synthesis is based on component-specific Pareto-optimal designs to handle performance, efficiency, package and costs for given system requirements. The results are displayed as Pareto-fronts of electric power train system designs variants, from which decision makers are able to choose the best suitable solution. In this way, the presented system design approach for the development of electrically driven axles enables a multi-objective optimization considering efficiency, performance, costs and package. It is capable to reduce development time and to improve overall system quality at the same time.

Modeling and simulation have become an important aspect of the design and development process of aircraft systems. During the design of high lift actuation systems for example, the dynamic loads in the transmission are estimated by simulation. Nevertheless huge development efforts and financial resources are still invested in physical testing. These integration and testing phases take place at a late stage in the design process. Therefore, identified malfunctions and development errors lead to undesired iterations and thus to high costs as well as to an increased development time. This issue is emphasized as system complexity is rising continuously in conjunction with an increase in the number of interconnections and functionality. Hence, early and continuous virtual testing activities on the overall system level become increasingly important. In order to establish such a process, this paper analyzes the effects of modeling depth and parameter uncertainties on the overall system behavior considering nominal operation as well as failure cases. It identifies which test cases can be performed in which development phase depending on the information required. The modeling and simulation is implemented in the multiphysics and object-oriented simulation environment Matlab/Simulink/Simscape using an example of a multifunctional high lift actuation system.

This research explores the design of mobile money value‐added services in Kenya that engage marginalized users during the design process. Building on past research that sets out principles for user centered design (UCD), and drawing upon evidence from three case studies, the research finds that system designers follow UCD principles, but decisions to involve users are largely born out of pragmatism, to increase the probability of acceptance of the system, whereas the users main concern were the associated costs, and there was (at least in the early stages) resistance to involvement. This resistance was borne out of a tension between the motivation of the system designers (which was largely non‐altruistic) and the motivation of the users who became involved in the projects through self‐interest or some coercion. The research concludes that system designers require greater appreciation of diversity in interests, asymmetric power and cross‐cultural differences when applying UCD methods. The research extends current knowledge with regard to design interventions in the development of mobile money applications in sub‐Saharan Africa and the recommendations formulated from this research provide practitioners with actionable knowledge to reflect on their current tools and techniques to ensure better localized design processes.

This article is concerned with how to represent in system design the kinds of features of work settings as reported by ethnographic studies of work. Various researchers and practitioners have found that ethnomehodological analyses of work settings can provide useful insights to the work processes and settings in which system design is interested. Previously at Lancaster University, we examined ways in whisk ethnography can be used in h e design process and how the results of ethnographic analyses can be presented in such a way as to be useful components of the design process. This article reflects an effort to approach these methodological issues from a different perspective. It examines how the lessons learned from ethnographic studies can be reflected in the design process itself and in particular how standardized design artifacts (e.g., models, documents) can express the type of information that ethnographic studies produce. The article focuses on how ethnographic analyses can influence the main representational artifact in systems design—the model of the system being developed. We examine how the Unified Modeling Language for object-oriented design can be used to express information about awareness in cooperative systems.

The integration of ‘‘real options’’ analysis will radically change the design of public and private systems. It will change the processes of system design, the way planners deal with uncertainly and risk. It will also change the outcomes, the kinds of elements designers build into the system as they develop it. This paper explains this coming evolution, and presents cases documenting the changes in attitude and the results already occurring. To think in terms of options alters the way one deals with uncertainty. Conventionally, good design minimizes risk. It focuses on increasing reliability and making the best decisions in risky situations. In short, it is reactive to risk. The framework of options thinking, however, recognizes that uncertainty adds value to options. In this context, uncertainty is a driver of value and can be viewed as a positive element. Correspondingly, systems design from this perspective is proactive towards risk. It seeks out opportunities to add value and commits to ongoing processes of information gathering to ensure that options can be exploited at the correct time. Thinking in terms of real options leads designers to build much more flexibility into a system than is common in current practice. For example, they may build duplicate combustion facilities that allow a plant to burn both natural gas and oil, or deliberately develop products that they may never launch. These investments that may be unused are ‘‘options’’; they give the system managers the capability to change the design or product mix, without requiring them to do so. The analysis of real options involves a set of procedures that adapt and extend the options analysis that won a Nobel in economics for its developers. Options analysis is now widely used for contracts on all kinds of widely traded financial instruments (stocks and bonds), commodities (oil, grain, and foreign exchange) and services (electric power, communications bandwidth). The analysis of real options applies the same basic principles, but adapts them to the particular circumstances of systems design, which generally deals with unique projects that lack historical statistics on risk. The analysis of real options enables managers and designers to estimate the value of system flexibility. As this has not been practical before, designers have previously not considered the value of flexibility. Incorporating this capability into systems analyses adds two significant dimensions to design. Public and private operators of major systems will come to recognize: - Large classes of projects as much more valuable than they now seem to be – these include all those that enable further development without committing to it prematurely, such as research, product development, system modularity, exploratory mining, etc.; and - New classes of design alternatives, specifically those enabling managers to adjust the system as needed when relevant information becomes available, that is design alternatives that involve deferral, acceleration and closure of facilities. The paper illustrates the wide range of applications of for the analysis of real options, using documented cases in many fields of engineering. It also refers to the extent possible to companies changing their procedures for system design and management to capitalize on the promise of real options.

From the Publisher: Models in System Design tracks the general trend in electronics in terms of size, complexity and difficulty of maintenance. System design is by nature combined with prototyping, mixed domain design, and verification, and it is no surprise that today's modeling & models are used in various levels of system design and verification. In order to deal with constraints induced by volume and complexity, new methods and techniques have been defined. Models in System Design provides an overview of the latest modeling techniques for use by system designers. Models in System Design will help designers and researchers to understand these latest techniques in system design and as such will be of interest to all involved in embedded system design.

As some scholars claim, the digital divide, referring to the perceived gap between those who have access to the latest information technologies and those who do not, entails that not having access to this information is an economic and social handicap (Compaine, 2001). In software design, structured inequalities operate along the main axes of gender, race/ethnicity and class. Each of these in turn generates its own structure of unequal practices giving rise to institutionalised sexism, racism or class divisions/conflict. “Gender, race and class also crosscut each other in various complex ways, sometimes reinforcing and at other times weakening the impact of existing inequalities” (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000, p. 100). For instance, Webster’s research (1996) employing feminist approaches to study computer system designs addresses the issue of a male-dominated system design field, which continuously excludes female users’ needs, requirements, interests and values in the innovation process. She criticises that, “Human factors may be bolted onto existing methods of systems design, local and contingent knowledge of work and information handling processes held by users in an amorphous sense may now even be incorporated into the systems design process, but this does not create an awareness of the way in which skills and knowledge are defined in gender-divided terms” (p. 150).