Thomas J. Meyers’s research while affiliated with Old Dominion University and other places

Public works decision and policy makers daily face myriad management problems. The problem of stormwater runoff management, for one, has for several decades received a great deal of attention, with much of that focused on reconciling the needs of natural watershed systems with those of the man-made physical and nonphysicalsocietal systems that watersheds overlap. In other words, stormwater management has effectively been cast as a system of systems problem requiring a delicate balance among multiple natural and man-made systems. The authors propose a methodology with which stakeholders can first set and then realize expectations for stormwater management problems by using watershed- and system of systems- oriented perspectives. The methodology, Enterprise AID (assessment, improvement, and design) is particularly well suited to such a pairing of perspectives, and this article, therefore, shows how stakeholders in multiple and commonly disparate interests might best balance the stormwater management needs of watersheds and related societal constructs.

As currently used, systems theory is lacking a universally agreed upon definition. The purpose of this paper is to offer a resolution by articulating a formal definition of systems theory. This definition is presented as a unified group of specific propositions which are brought together by way of an axiom set to form a system construct: systems theory. This construct affords systems practitioners and theoreticians with a prescriptive set of axioms by which a system must operate; conversely, any set of entities identified as a system may be characterized by this set of axioms. Given its multidisciplinary theoretical foundation and discipline-agnostic framework, systems theory, as it is presented here, is posited as a general approach to understanding system behavior. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 17:

Enterprise AID - assessment, improvement, and design - is a methodology for the design and deployment of performance measurement systems (PMSs) able to address specific problems of specific enterprises pursuing any or all of enterprise assessment, improvement, or design. It features two successive phases respectively invoking its design and deployment capabilities, and it represents designers’ inductively generated response to what they perceive as a gap between capabilities needed to support contemporary enterprises and those offered by contemporary PMSs. This paper describes a prototype application of the methodology centered on a university research center and presents generalized lessons learned from that effort, including the importance of consensus on problem statement definition, recognition of the need to realistically limit the number of measures within a PMS, and others.

The Enterprise AID − for assessment, improvement, and design − methodology is a systems science-, operational test and evaluation-, and multicriteria decision analysis-based approach to design and deployment of performance measurement systems (PMSs) tailored to specific enterprises pursuing any or all of enterprise assessment, improvement, or design. Its two phases of design and deployment sprang from designers’ inductively generated and now prototyped response to a gap they recognized between performance measurement capabilities required by contemporary enterprises and those offered by contemporary PMSs. This paper illustrates key concepts underlying AID, while a companion document, The Enterprise AID methodology: Application, draws from a prototyping effort to identify value to be gained by stakeholders from PMSs designed and deployed with methodology application.

Historically, public and private sector enterprises have been viewed as existing on opposing ends of the performance measurement spectrum, due to seemingly incompatible worldviews. Private sector enterprises are traditionally viewed as profit-driven and focused on a return on investment paradigm, while public sector enterprises are seen as mission-oriented and answerable to a paradigm less focused on investment and more on improving enterprise capability. The authors propose that, in fact, these worldviews are not mutually exclusive, as private and public sector enterprises must both account for investment and mission concerns. In order to leverage real synergy to be gained from distinct but complementary viewpoints, a systemic approach to evaluating organization performance through the novel fusion of operational test and evaluation and multi-criteria decision analysis is developed. Use of this framework is demonstrated within an enterprise that involves consideration of public and private sector concerns. The authors hope that the approach proposed in this chapter will enable public and private sector enterprises to comprehensively address performance.

Single systems and systems of systems, alike, demand management approaches focused on performance; but system of systems management can only responsibly address performance if it accounts for characteristics such as the presence of distinct subsystems pursuing possibly disparate purposes, a characteristic by definition of no concern to single system management. By extension then, with to manage in many ways to measure, systems of systems demand performance measurement schemes that accommodate the traits that set them apart from individual systems. Enterprise AID represents a means for measuring and hence managing the current or future performance of systems of systems. Enterprise AID - or simply AID, for assessment, improvement, and design - is a methodology for the design and use of performance measurement systems able to uniformly address problems encountered with extant or envisioned, single system or system of systems type enterprises. This paper describes advantages held by the AID methodology for system of systems performance measurement, and it does so within a context set by appropriate definitions, selected methodology elements, and an application example focused on the selected elements. This paper concludes with a recognition of performance related issues attendant to system of systems improvement or design.

A US Navy carrier strike group (CSG) is an important element of US policy projection through military assets. The CSG is a system of systems (SoS) representing both an organisation of people and a collection of ships, aircraft, and support equipment designed to support US global interests. The CSG is a metasystem composed of a number of separate subsystems (vessels, air wing, and staffs), and it fits the classic definition of a SoS proposed by Maier (1999). Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) subsystems in a carrier strike group (CSG) are a SoS supporting the larger CSG. This paper will introduce the reader to the US Navy CSG. It will include a summary of components in the CSG SoS, the SoS's mission, a description of the component systems, how the SoS is organised, and how the metasystem is purposefully directed by its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) subsystems. The paper serves as an introduction to this issue's following papers that will use emerging system of systems engineering (SoSE) principles and methods to provide a more holistic frame of reference for understanding CSG C4ISR as a SoS.

The first perspective in the system of systems engineering (SoSE) methodology is to ensure that the engineering analysis is supported by an explicit understanding and framing of the problem under study. By explicitly framing the problem and its associated context, the SoSE methodology minimises the chance of a Type III error (i.e., correctly rejects the null hypothesis for the wrong reason) committed at study's outset. This paper addresses the methodology's Perspective 1, framing the system under study, and the nine component execution elements serving to operationalise it. The paper will illustrate those elements as tools with which SoS problems may be framed in terms of their most prominent contextual and environmental influences.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique contributions that R&D System Governance offers to enhance performance of research based enterprises. R&D System Governance is a developing field focused on systemic integration of research efforts. The paper is organized to accomplish three primary objectives. First, R&D System Governance is introduced and a short background, including a literature review, is provided. Second, we examine the unique contributions that systems theory can provide for further development of R&D System Governance. As part of this exploration, several foundational systems concepts are explored. Third, a preliminary set of 'governing system' functions are suggested as essential to understand the systemic governance of an R&D enterprise. The paper closes with examination of the implications of R&D System Governance and future directions for research and practice of R&D System Governance for public sector enterprises.