SEN 1121 Complex Systems Engineering 2022-2023
Summary by Cilia
Table of Contents
Lecture 1 Complex systems and properties............................................................................................2
Lecture 2 - Complex systems thinking and team development..............................................................4
Group work: Team development........................................................................................................4
Lecture 3 - Values and value-based design.............................................................................................6
Lecture 4 – Requirements Specification.................................................................................................9
Lecture 5 – Requirements Engineering.................................................................................................12
Lecture 6 – FFBD, SysML and Use Case Modelling................................................................................14
Lecture 7 – Conceptual Design.............................................................................................................23
Lecture 8 – Integrated Design...............................................................................................................27
Lecture 9 – Systems modelling and simulations...................................................................................31
Lecture 10 – Collaborative Design........................................................................................................36
Lecture 11 – Project Management.......................................................................................................39
Lecture 12 – Risk Management............................................................................................................43
Lecture 13 – Systems Engineering Approaches....................................................................................53
1
,Lecture 1 Complex systems and properties
There are different types of systems: communications systems; infrastructural systems;
social systems; governmental systems; ecological systems; systems of systems
A system
Is an assembly of system elements
Has interconnections between elements
Has a state and shows behaviour
Has an external system boundary
A system thinker can:
Identify some entities that can be seen to be a coherent whole
Perceive/invent some principles of coherence to draw a boundary
Identify some mechanism of control by which the whole retains its identity
Narrowing the definition of a system has two major implications
A system must be able to be managed
Systems elements, interconnections and boundary are not accidental but result
from deliberate design (engineering)
A system must be managerially and operationally independent (and may well have
been procured independently)
Always within a context/environment
A system is positioned in an environment, often in a system of (networked) systems. You
have to choose boundaries.
A system has a mission
= the purpose of the system
Is based on stakeholder values and interests
Value-based mission of a system guides the design process
Examples: promote the growth of household plastic waste recycling rates in the
city of Amsterdam to support sustainability goals; enhance social cohesion in the
district Feyenoord by effectively and responsibly stimulating social participation
You need to think of ways to keep the system moving. Things keep changing so the
system needs to adapt as well
Complex socio-technical systems
Characteristics:
Systems of systems – embedded and connected
Continues change. Large number of (emerging) uncertainties
o E.g., even though Uber started of great, due to resistance from cities and
cab drives it is now less successful (same thing for Airbnb)
o You can’t predict everything. You just need to adapt the system as changes
happen. The system needs to adapt itself (self-organisation) to ensure that
you don’t need to intervene at every change
Involving many stakeholders (sometimes with conflicting interests and goals)
Many interdependencies between parts and with the environment
Requiring adaptive coordination and cooperation
Dynamic – continuous change – spanning many years (decades)
Unpredictable – emergence, openness, autopoiesis (self-production and self-
organisation), learning
No single objective measure to determine the quality of a design
It is possible to set a mission before it is even technically possible to achieve it and then
build a system around it. E.g., Apollo mission and Delta works (was not possible to get to
the moon or to protect the land from the sea but they set a mission and made it work).
Complex vs complicated
Special about ‘complex’ is that it changes and that it is unpredictable.
“... the main difference between complicated and complex systems is that with the
former, one can usually predict outcomes by knowing the starting conditions. In a
complex system, the same starting conditions can produce different outcomes,
depending on interactions of the elements in the system.”
Building a rocket can be very complicated but it is not complex as it is not unpredictable
and has no social aspect. A city is very complex as it changes continuously, is a socio-
technical system and you can’t predict what’s going to happen
2
,It is complicated if we know everything about it. If there are a lot of unknowns and
uncertainties that we can’t predict than it is complex.
Examples of complicated SoSs (systems of systems): computer, car, engine, train
Examples of complex systems: climate change, social media
Participatory system characteristics:
Complex socio-technical systems
Are enabled by technology/connectivity
Regulated by people themselves (so not the government). Bottom-up.
Coordination and orchestrating self-organisation
Designed to provide individuals and organisations with the ability to act and take
responsibility in today’s networked society
Taking responsibility, participating, requires trust, awareness, and the ability to
act
In a participatory system the participants decide what’s going to happen
Example is smart city Boulder in Colorado.
Highly educated community
Wanted to become sustainable
Overrun their budget many times but because the community wanted it to
happen, it still happened in the end.
3
, Lecture 2 - Complex systems thinking and team development
Emergence and self-organisation
Swimmy is a fish. He is an autonomous system which is part of a school of fish, he is in a
safe environment, unaware of danger. Then there is danger in the form of a predator, and
he loses his other fish. He is on his own in an unknown environment. Then he finds other
fish and they have a common need to survive so they create new forms of collaboration.
They find a new optimum. This can be seen as a new configuration, a new entity.
So, taking a new perspective works. They come together and self-organise, and it works
How you see the system is in the eye of the beholder. Different perspectives thus need to
be considered during system design.
Can you think of other ways to cope with complexity during design? dividing the
system
Coping with complexity during design
Improve forecasting methods
o Using simulations of interactions to identify low probability, high
implications, etc. – for instance, multi-agent system simulation
o Using predictive information what do we know about the past, what do
we know about the future, and what do we think we know about the future
Lagging (past)
Current (present)
Leading (future)
Improved risk mitigation
o Triangulation I think that you think that what does the third party think?
o What-if storytelling
o Modularisation
Smart trade-off decisions
o Ensure diversity of thinking
o Real-options approach
Options to consider
Self-organisation is often based on local coordination
“Polycentric governance is characterized by an organizational structure where multiple
independent actors mutually order their relationships with one another under a general
system of rules.”
Design principles for governing the commons: local natural resource management
of socio-ecological systems (Ostrom, 1990)
Can be applied in many different areas
Clearly defined boundaries
Rules appropriate for provisioning in local context
Collective choice decision making
Effective monitoring
Graduated sanctions what’s going to happen if someone doesn’t stick with the
rules
Mechanisms for conflict resolutions
Self-determination of community
Multiple layers of nested enterprises
Examples of domains in which these principles have worked to avoid the tragedy of the
commons
Police force – local vs federal/national
Fishing communities if it is not well-regulated it is nice for the fishers but not for
the fish
River governance
Management of pastures
Group work: Team development
What is a project?
A temporary endeavour with a definite start and end, and a finite budget, undertaken
to achieve a specific, pre-defined goal or aim
where non-repetitive activities are executed to produce unique things with
accompanying deliverables
by resources of different sorts and with different knowledge and skills
4
Summary by Cilia
Table of Contents
Lecture 1 Complex systems and properties............................................................................................2
Lecture 2 - Complex systems thinking and team development..............................................................4
Group work: Team development........................................................................................................4
Lecture 3 - Values and value-based design.............................................................................................6
Lecture 4 – Requirements Specification.................................................................................................9
Lecture 5 – Requirements Engineering.................................................................................................12
Lecture 6 – FFBD, SysML and Use Case Modelling................................................................................14
Lecture 7 – Conceptual Design.............................................................................................................23
Lecture 8 – Integrated Design...............................................................................................................27
Lecture 9 – Systems modelling and simulations...................................................................................31
Lecture 10 – Collaborative Design........................................................................................................36
Lecture 11 – Project Management.......................................................................................................39
Lecture 12 – Risk Management............................................................................................................43
Lecture 13 – Systems Engineering Approaches....................................................................................53
1
,Lecture 1 Complex systems and properties
There are different types of systems: communications systems; infrastructural systems;
social systems; governmental systems; ecological systems; systems of systems
A system
Is an assembly of system elements
Has interconnections between elements
Has a state and shows behaviour
Has an external system boundary
A system thinker can:
Identify some entities that can be seen to be a coherent whole
Perceive/invent some principles of coherence to draw a boundary
Identify some mechanism of control by which the whole retains its identity
Narrowing the definition of a system has two major implications
A system must be able to be managed
Systems elements, interconnections and boundary are not accidental but result
from deliberate design (engineering)
A system must be managerially and operationally independent (and may well have
been procured independently)
Always within a context/environment
A system is positioned in an environment, often in a system of (networked) systems. You
have to choose boundaries.
A system has a mission
= the purpose of the system
Is based on stakeholder values and interests
Value-based mission of a system guides the design process
Examples: promote the growth of household plastic waste recycling rates in the
city of Amsterdam to support sustainability goals; enhance social cohesion in the
district Feyenoord by effectively and responsibly stimulating social participation
You need to think of ways to keep the system moving. Things keep changing so the
system needs to adapt as well
Complex socio-technical systems
Characteristics:
Systems of systems – embedded and connected
Continues change. Large number of (emerging) uncertainties
o E.g., even though Uber started of great, due to resistance from cities and
cab drives it is now less successful (same thing for Airbnb)
o You can’t predict everything. You just need to adapt the system as changes
happen. The system needs to adapt itself (self-organisation) to ensure that
you don’t need to intervene at every change
Involving many stakeholders (sometimes with conflicting interests and goals)
Many interdependencies between parts and with the environment
Requiring adaptive coordination and cooperation
Dynamic – continuous change – spanning many years (decades)
Unpredictable – emergence, openness, autopoiesis (self-production and self-
organisation), learning
No single objective measure to determine the quality of a design
It is possible to set a mission before it is even technically possible to achieve it and then
build a system around it. E.g., Apollo mission and Delta works (was not possible to get to
the moon or to protect the land from the sea but they set a mission and made it work).
Complex vs complicated
Special about ‘complex’ is that it changes and that it is unpredictable.
“... the main difference between complicated and complex systems is that with the
former, one can usually predict outcomes by knowing the starting conditions. In a
complex system, the same starting conditions can produce different outcomes,
depending on interactions of the elements in the system.”
Building a rocket can be very complicated but it is not complex as it is not unpredictable
and has no social aspect. A city is very complex as it changes continuously, is a socio-
technical system and you can’t predict what’s going to happen
2
,It is complicated if we know everything about it. If there are a lot of unknowns and
uncertainties that we can’t predict than it is complex.
Examples of complicated SoSs (systems of systems): computer, car, engine, train
Examples of complex systems: climate change, social media
Participatory system characteristics:
Complex socio-technical systems
Are enabled by technology/connectivity
Regulated by people themselves (so not the government). Bottom-up.
Coordination and orchestrating self-organisation
Designed to provide individuals and organisations with the ability to act and take
responsibility in today’s networked society
Taking responsibility, participating, requires trust, awareness, and the ability to
act
In a participatory system the participants decide what’s going to happen
Example is smart city Boulder in Colorado.
Highly educated community
Wanted to become sustainable
Overrun their budget many times but because the community wanted it to
happen, it still happened in the end.
3
, Lecture 2 - Complex systems thinking and team development
Emergence and self-organisation
Swimmy is a fish. He is an autonomous system which is part of a school of fish, he is in a
safe environment, unaware of danger. Then there is danger in the form of a predator, and
he loses his other fish. He is on his own in an unknown environment. Then he finds other
fish and they have a common need to survive so they create new forms of collaboration.
They find a new optimum. This can be seen as a new configuration, a new entity.
So, taking a new perspective works. They come together and self-organise, and it works
How you see the system is in the eye of the beholder. Different perspectives thus need to
be considered during system design.
Can you think of other ways to cope with complexity during design? dividing the
system
Coping with complexity during design
Improve forecasting methods
o Using simulations of interactions to identify low probability, high
implications, etc. – for instance, multi-agent system simulation
o Using predictive information what do we know about the past, what do
we know about the future, and what do we think we know about the future
Lagging (past)
Current (present)
Leading (future)
Improved risk mitigation
o Triangulation I think that you think that what does the third party think?
o What-if storytelling
o Modularisation
Smart trade-off decisions
o Ensure diversity of thinking
o Real-options approach
Options to consider
Self-organisation is often based on local coordination
“Polycentric governance is characterized by an organizational structure where multiple
independent actors mutually order their relationships with one another under a general
system of rules.”
Design principles for governing the commons: local natural resource management
of socio-ecological systems (Ostrom, 1990)
Can be applied in many different areas
Clearly defined boundaries
Rules appropriate for provisioning in local context
Collective choice decision making
Effective monitoring
Graduated sanctions what’s going to happen if someone doesn’t stick with the
rules
Mechanisms for conflict resolutions
Self-determination of community
Multiple layers of nested enterprises
Examples of domains in which these principles have worked to avoid the tragedy of the
commons
Police force – local vs federal/national
Fishing communities if it is not well-regulated it is nice for the fishers but not for
the fish
River governance
Management of pastures
Group work: Team development
What is a project?
A temporary endeavour with a definite start and end, and a finite budget, undertaken
to achieve a specific, pre-defined goal or aim
where non-repetitive activities are executed to produce unique things with
accompanying deliverables
by resources of different sorts and with different knowledge and skills
4
