Nature_of_System

Nature of System

Describe the Nature of the System

Identify the “nature” of the system. Systems and processes differ in many ways but the nature of the process will guide many design decisions. Is the system composes of physical processes (manufacturing, transportation, etc.); knowledge or information processes (loan processing, insurance claims, etc.); or creative processes (strategy development, product development, etc.)? To what extent is customization required to meet the customer’s needs?

Physical

Is it a system that incorporates the transformation or transportation of physical materials? The design of physical systems is quite different than knowledge or creative process. Physical systems can and often do have many engineering and scientific knowledge constraints that must be dealt with during the design process.

In addition, many physical processes often require a high degree of standardization and focus on conformance or reduced variation. If the system can be automated then that will impact the remaining design decisions. Generally speaking, if a system can be automated, it usually is. While designers of automated physical systems have to deal with engineering challenges, they often have fewer human issues to overcome.

Knowledge and Information

Is this a knowledge or information system / process? If it is a knowledge or information intensive system, does it require humans to make decisions? The potions of the system that do not require humans to make decisions are candidates for automation. However, many knowledge systems and processes have to be designed to enable and engage human minds as a key component in the system. The capability of artificial intelligence applications to make complex, situation dependent decisions is still somewhat disappointing. The goal in these situations is to provide the necessary accurate information to the decision makers with the least amount of effort and cost. A loan process is an example of a process that includes components of information transfer that do not require a human decision and components that require decisions such as the decisions to loan, interest rate, etc.

Creative

Is this a creative system or process? Some knowledge processes are administrative or analytical in nature and some require creativity. Creative systems and processes tend to be less effective when the degree of process specificity and standardization are high. Structure can enhance the level of creativity but only up to a point and then additional structure beyond that point will impede or reduce creativity. The challenge in designing creative systems is to have just enough structure and no more. Many management systems such as leadership systems and strategic management systems require a high degree of creativity. So, the trick is to figure out just how much creativity is needed to enhance the creative processes and no more!

Custom

How much flexibility or customization is needed when executing the system? How flexible does this system or process need to be to effectively address variation in users, situations, purposes, etc.? Does this system or process need to be designed so it can be used by a wide variety of cultures, teams, individuals?

Physical processes tend to require less flexibility and are typically more standardized than knowledge of creative processes. However, there are instances where the physical processes require flexibility in execution. Service industries often deal with physical components (food, hotel properties, etc.) that have to be either modified or combined in various ways to serve the various needs of a variety of customers. The trick is to determine early in the design process the need for customization in the process so that the right degree of flexibility can be designed into the system.

These four dimensions of nature are not mutually exclusive. Many systems are composed of combinations of two or sometimes all four types of processes – physical, knowledge, and creative. Each of these dimensions impacts the design team by enabling and constraining the design process options.