An  Action Process is a Behavior that describes a typical course of action intended to produce Outcomes, through the involvement of Agents as Active Participants.

During its course of action, a process consumes or produces Functional Assets, including Information Assets.

1) It may memorize or access Information Assets from and to its Process Stores.

2) It may receive Functional Assets at its boundary: Outcome Consumptions.

3) It may signal the production of Functional Assets at its boundary: Outcome Productions.

The course of actions of a  Action Process is constrained ( Rule Enforcement) by the application of Behavioral Rules that define what is allowed and not allowed to do.

Within  SysFEAT, we can examine  Action Processes from two distinct perspectives:

a) A conceptual standpoint is provided by Value Streams.

b) A concrete implementation standpoint is provided by Resource Action Processes.

An  Agent is an Operating Asset which is able to participate actively to Behaviors, to produce and react to Outcome Events.

1.  Agents participate to Action Processes (Active Participant) and/or conduct Action Processes (Performed Process).

2.  Agents participate to Interaction Process (Scenario Participant) describing how they interact with other  Agents.

These actions and interactions define  Agents boundaries described by Service Interfaces.

An  Agent State is a temporal slice type of an Agent related to its lifefcyle.
Examples:

. The lifecycle phases of a person, such as childhood, adulthood, eldery stage.

. The lifecyle phases of a hospital such as construction phase, operation and maintenance phase, renovation and expansion phase, decommissioning phase.

An  Annotation Block is a Building Block used to provide additional characteristics such as Documentations,

Examples:

 Description Notes .

Tags.

An  Appraisal is a time bound statement expressed by stakeholders to qualify Asset Blocks with respect to their worth.

Assessments and Decisions are two major types of  Appraisals provided by  SysFEAT.

An  Appraisal Type refers to a kind of Appraisal method and technique used to evaluate the worth, effectiveness, compliance, or quality of enterprise Asset Blocks.

Appraisal Types define a set of Appraisal Options which are the possible values that will result from an Appraisal activity.

For instance, when making decisions about invesment on an enterprise asset, the possible options can be: eliminate, invest, migrate.

Assessment Type and Resolution Type are the two appraisal techniques provided by  SysFEAT.

An  Architecture Container is a Model Container that packages Asset Blocks used for enterprise architecture descriptions.

This includes Information Asset, Processes, Software Systems, Hardware Systems, Organizations, etc.

Model Containers are used to split  SysFEAT repository content into several independent modules (aka package).

They allow virtual partitions of the repository. In particular, Asset Blocks packaged by different Model Containers can have the same name (namespacing).

There are two main kinds of Model Container: Enterprise and Library.

An  Assessment is the result of the act of judging or assessing an aspect of the enterprise, based on an enterprise description and on the comparison of this description with the actual state of the enterprise.

An  Assessment is made by one or several Stakeholder s.

An  Assessment Type refers to a kind of Assessment method and technique used to evaluate the worth, effectiveness, compliance, or quality of enterprise Asset Blocks.

 Assessment Types define a set of  Assessment Values which are the possible values that will result from an Assessment.

An  Asset Category is a Category used to classify Asset Blocks.

There are different kinds of  Asset Category that applies only to certain subtypes of Asset Blocks.

For instance:

. Data Category applies to Information Assets.

. Process Family applies to Resource Operating Assets.

. Risk Type applies to  Functional Assets.

An  Asset Property is a Class of Property that qualifies Individual Assets and their Asset Types.

Example:

. Capabilities (as a functional property).

. Environmental conditions.

. Directives.

An  Asset State is a temporal slice of a Individual Asset.

Examples:

. The state of the Eiffel tower during the 1900 World Fair, with its improved elevators and electric illuminations (Apr 14, 1900 - Nov 12, 1900).

. William Shakespeare in its early theatrical career (1592-1600).

. Confucius in its early childhood.

. The first Plinian phase of the Mount Vesuvius eruption (18 to 20 hour, Aug. 24 A.D. 79), that projected a column of volcanic debris and hot gases.

. Oackland digital hospital after its renovation (2022 - ...).

An  Asset State Type is a temporal slice type of an Asset Type.

Examples:

. The lifecyle phases of buildings such as a skycraper: construction phase, operation and maintenance phase, decommissioning phase.

. The lifecycle phases of a person, such as childhood, adulthood, eldery stage.

. The phases of a volcanic eruption:  magma accumulation, plinian phase, eruptive phase, effusive phase, declining phase.

. The lifecyle phases of a hospital such as construction phase, operation and maintenance phase, renovation and expansion phase, decommissioning phase.

An  Asset Type is a Class of Individual which is used in the description of the enterprise and its systems, such as Action Processes, Department Types, Applications, Location Types, Period Types.

A  Behavior is an Operating Asset that describes any action or reaction of an Agent to external or internal Behavioral Events.  Behaviors include Action Processes (action), Interaction Processs (stories) or interactions (Service Interface).

The course of actions of a  Behavior is constrained ( Rule Enforcement) by the application of Behavioral Rules that define what is allowed and not allowed to do.

A  Behavioral Event is a Temporal Bounding Type that establishes a temporal connection between Behaviors.

A  Behavioral Event connects a Predecessor  Behavioral Event, to a Successor  Behavioral Event.

A  Behavioral Rule is a Directive intended to guide the Behavior of Agents, in compliance with enterprise Policy(ies) or regulations.

Often, a  Behavioral Rule is derived from a Policy.  Behavioral Rules are enforced in Processes and Agents.

A  Capability is a functional  Asset Property which refers to the ability to produce an Outcome Event.

Capabilitys are fulfilled by Agents performing Action Processes and interacting with other Agents to produce Outcome Events.

A  Condition Category is a class of  Condition Property Type.

Example: Measurement Types (Performance, Security, Cost), PESTEL (political, economic, social, environmental, legal)

It is used to group Condition Property Type(ies) by domain of concerns represented by Family of Measurement.

A  Condition Property is a possible value of a Condition Property Type such as a delivery time of 30 minutes, a weight of 20 kg, a high level of confidentiality, stormy conditions.

A  Condition Property is either a single measure (Measure Property: a weight of 20 kg), an Environmental Property (stormy conditions.) or a Set of Condition Propertiess.

 Condition Propertys are used to constrain Asset Blocks in the context of non-functional requirement analysis and Value Proposition analysis.

Examples:

. Cost of 100€

. Delivery time of 30 minutes.

. Weight of 20 kg.

. Temperature of 18 degree Celcius.

A  Condition Property Type expresses a type of constraint that can be applied to Asset Types.

These constraints can be either Measure Property Type (Time, Mass, Cost, ..), Environmental Property Types (Terrain Type, Light conditions, Weather conditions) or a grouping of these (Set of Environmental Condition Type).

 Condition Property Types are used to constrain Asset Blocks in the context of non-functional requirement analysis and Value Proposition analysis.

A  Decision is a time bound Resolution, agreed upon by Stakeholders, to state what shall or shall not be done regarding a specific Functional Asset.

Architecturally significant decisions that are been made in the organization typically includes:

a) Product selections

b) Justification for major architectural features of projects

c) Standards deviations

d) Standards lifecycle changes

e) Change Request evaluations and approvals

f) Re-use assessments

A  Decision Type is a Resolution Type that refers to a kind of Decision used to state what shall or shall not be done regarding an enterprise Asset Block.

 Decision Types define a set of  Decision Options which are the possible values that will result from a decision-making process.

For instance, when making decisions about invesment on an enterprise asset, the possible options can be: eliminate, invest, migrate.

An  Enduring Initiative is a long term Initiative which involves roadmapping and governance. Enterprises and their Management Systems are typical  Enduring Initiatives.

1.  Enduring Initiatives are purpose-oriented.

2.  Enduring Initiatives are change management systems: they have objectives regarding the purposes they pursue, maintain and develop.

3.  Enduring Initiatives are measured to ensure they meet their  Goals.

4.  Enduring Initiatives are organized according to subsidiary levels, ensuring autonomy and ownership at each level of delegation while providing responsibility and accountability in achieving common goals.

5.  Enduring Initiatives are under the control of an associed Governing Team.

6.Governing Teams have instruments used to carry out governance: responsibility assignment, assessments, workflow, decision records, incident records.

An  Environment Interaction Process is a story that describes how an Agent interacts with its partners (Partner Agent) to achieve Outcome Events in a specific Operating Eco-System (Agent Environment).

This includes:

1) A course of events represented by Object Flows depicting the succession of intermediate Outcome Events towards the production and consumption of final Outcome Events.

2) Interacting partners who participate to the story in the considered Operating Eco-System.

 Functional Assets encompasse all Asset Types used to describe why and how systems operate/function. This includes the Operating Eco-System where system operates to fulfill these purposes (Agents and their  Behaviors).

 Functional Assets include:

1. Blocks defining results of Behaviors of the enterprise or its sub-systems, that benefit to it internal or external customers : Outcome Event,

2. Blocks used to describe information: Information Asset.

3. Blocks used to describe how the enterprise operates: Operating Assets (Agent, Behavior, Service Interface).

All  Functional Assets are constrained by Policys and are exposed to Risk Types.

A  Governance Event is any event that has an impact on the management and governance of an Enduring Initiative.

This includes the result of Assessments, Decisions, recorded Incidents, Drivers, etc.

An  Individual Asset is an  Individual which is used in the description of the enterprise and its systems.

 Individual Assets can be qualified by  Condition Scale Values.

An  Individual Event is a Temporal Bounding that establishes a temporal connection between Individual Behaviors.

An  Individual Event connects a Previous Behavioral Event, to a Next Behavioral Event.

An  Individual Macro Operating Asset is an Individual Operating Asset which correspond to a large-scale enterprise assets. This level of analysis is concerned with understanding how large enterprise systems operate and how they interact with each other.

Examples of macro-level systems:

. Legal entities

. The overall enterprise IT System

. The internet

. System of Systems

. The Enterprise itself.,

A  Individual Mezzo Operating Asset at is the intermediate level between the foundational  Individual Mezzo Operating Assets and the overarching Individual Micro Operating Assets.

At the mezzo level, aggregates or collections of Micro Operating Assets come together to form larger entities or sub-systems.

Boundaries and signals at the mezzo level arise from the interactions and emergent behaviors of micro-level components, yet they also have their own distinct properties and rules not strictly reducible to the micro behaviors.

Emergence at the mezzo level can be analyzed:

1) Bottom-up: Looking at how interactions and behaviors at the micro level give rise to emergent phenomena, structures, or behaviors at the mezzo level.

2)Top-down: Understanding how meso-level structures influence and constrain the behaviors and interactions of the micro-level components within them.

A  Individual Micro Operating Asset represents the foundational level at which a system's structure and interactions can be analyzed without further subdivision into smaller constituent parts.

 Individual Micro Operating Assets set the stage for how higher-level behaviors emerge. As one moves up to higher hierarchical levels (mezzo, macro, etc.), the signals and boundaries at each of those levels are influenced by the foundational interactions set at the micro level.

An  Information Asset  represents anything that can be communicated or memorized by an Agent to produce and react to Outcome Events.

An  Information Asset is either an Information Entity or an  Information Property.
The difference lies in their relationship to change and to time. Information Entity(ies) can change over time and have a lifeycle while  Information Propertys are immutable characteristics.

An  Information Block is an Asset Block involved in the description of information.

 Information Blocks range from Information Assets to Information Domains.

They are packaged in Information Dictionary(ies) and managed in Data Catalogs.

An  Information Dictionary is a Model Package of Information Blocks used to describe an information architecture. This includes:

1. Information Domain which groups Information Entitys by unit knowlege required by an Agent to operate during Behavior execution.

2. Information Entity which constitute resusable unit of information that can change over time.

3. Concept Property which constitue immutable characteristics of Information Entitys.

Concrete implementations of Model Packages are Business Dictionary, Logical Data Dictionary, etc.

An  Information Entity is an Information Asset that is not fundamentally defined by its attributes, but rather by its continuity.

An  Information Entity evolves over time and has states.

For instance a person is an  Information Entity. Employe is a state of a person.

An  Information Entity has relationships to other  Information Entitys and can have  Information Propertys.

An  Information Map is a  Operating Property Map that is the top level grouping of Information Domains.

  Information Maps are used to provide navigationtop level entry points for  Information Dictionary(ies) and to scope data management initiatives at the level of portfolio management ( Data Catalog), at the project level or at the Enterprise level (Enterprise Concept Map).

An  Information Property is an Information Asset that represents a characteristic (Class of Property) of an Information Entity.

An  Information Property is fundamentally defined by its value. It doesn't evolve over time and is thereby immutable.

Examples:

. Address.

. Customer Name.

. Amounts,

An  Initiative is any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted under the responsibility of a Steering Authority.

 Initiatives range from single project to long term initiatives (Enduring Initiative) such as Enterprises.

 Initiatives are sychronized over time using Initiative Milestones.

An  Initiative Resource Type is a type of   Initiative Resource defined by Enduring Initiatives  to achieve its objectives.

For instance:

Data Controls are mechanisms used to ensure data quality and data integrity

Privacy Representatives are used to identify national entities in charge on privacy.

An  Interaction Process is a story (Behavior) that describes how the components of an Agent interacts to produce and consume Outcome Events.
This includes:

1) A course of events represented by  Object Flows depicting the succesion of  intermediate Outcome Events towards the production of the final Outcome Events.

2) Interacting Agents who participate to the story.

A  type of  Macro Operating Asset is an Operating Asset which corresponds to a large-scale enterprise assets. This level of analysis is concerned with understanding how large enterprise systems operate and how they interact with each other.

Examples of macro-level systems:

. Type of Legal entities

. System of Systems

A  Measure Property Type is a Condition Property Type that expresses a type of measurement (Time, Mass, Cost, ..) and define the units used for measures (minutes, kg, euros, etc.).

Examples:

- Time to deliver in minutes.

- Delivery cost in kilo Euros.

Condition Property Types are described by Measure Unit: kg, Liter, Gallon, Hour, Minute.

Condition Property Types are used to constrain Asset Blocks in the context of non-functional requirement analysis and Value Proposition analysis.

A type of  Mezzo Operating Asset at is the intermediate level between the foundational Micro Operating Assets and the overarching Macro Operating Assets.

At the mezzo level, aggregates or collections of Micro Operating Assets come together to form larger entities or sub-systems.

Boundaries and signals at the mezzo level arise from the interactions and emergent behaviors of micro-level components, yet they also have their own distinct properties and rules not strictly reducible to the micro behaviors.

Emergence at the mezzo level can be analyzed:

1) Bottom-up: Looking at how interactions and behaviors at the micro level give rise to emergent phenomena, structures, or behaviors at the mezzo level.

2)Top-down: Understanding how meso-level structures influence and constrain the behaviors and interactions of the micro-level components within them.

A type of  Micro Operating Asset represents the foundational level at which a system's structure and interactions can be analyzed without further subdivision into smaller constituent parts.

 Micro Operating Assets set the stage for how higher-level behaviors emerge. As one moves up to higher hierarchical levels (mezzo, macro, etc.), the signals and boundaries at each of those levels are influenced by the foundational interactions set at the micro level.

A  Model Building Block is a Building Block used to represent aspects of the reality. It comprises:

-  Asset Blocks are used to describe the how the enterprise and its systems operate (function) is their eco-systems.

-  Initiatives are used to manage enterprise and systems functional transformations, as well as assurance objectives and activities.

-   Governance Instruments are used to ensure that these objectives and activities are understood and fulfilled.

A  Model Container is a Container of Model Building Blocks used to describe both the architecture of the enterprise and Initiatives aimed at designing, developing, running, adapting and maintaining this architecture over time.

 Model Containers range from Information Dictionary(ies), architecture Library(ies) up to an entire Enterprise.

A  Model Lexical Scope is Block Lexical Scope for Model Building Blocks.

It also adds the ability to nest Annotation Blocks.

A  Model Property Block is a Building Block used to provide classification and qualification of Model Building Blocks.

For instance, Tags are used for classification. Condition Value are used for qualification or quantification.

An  Operating Asset is a Functional Asset that describes the way Outcome Events are produced and consumed: how (Behaviors) and by whom (Agents).

 Operating Assets fulfill Capability(ies) (Fulfilled Capability).

As any  Functional Architecture Asset,  Operating Assets are subject to Policy Conformances. In addition, they define Rule Enforcements to indicate how Policy Conformances are met.

An  Operational Transformation is an Initiative that creates or transform Operating Assets, based on a Capability Map's functional scope.

Its  Goal is to deliver new or improved Capabilitys, with measurable qualitative properties, to well identified beneficiary stakholders.

A  Policy is a Directive that is not directly enforceable whose purpose is to govern, guide or constrain the structure and Behavior of Agents in the enterprise.

Policies provide the basis for rules and govern Behaviors carried out by Agents.

Example of Policys are Regulation Articles, Business Policys or Architecture principles.

A  Reference Dictionary is a kind of Architecture Container that is used as a reference library to hold reference materials used to develop architectures.

Example:

- Vendor Catalog

- Regulatory Framework

-

A  Resolution Outcome is a possible value of a Resolution Type, that will be selected during a Resolution process.

For instance, when making decisions about invesment on an enterprise asset, the possible options are: eliminate, invest, migrate. tolerate.

A  Risk Type is a distinct category or classification of risk based on its origin, nature, or potential impact. It helps in organizing and addressing different sources of uncertainty or potential harm that an individual, organization, or system might face. By categorizing risks into different types, entities can develop more targeted mitigation strategies and response plans.

Common risk types include Operational Risk Type, Privacy Risk Type, and Compliance Risk Type, among others,

A  Stakeholder is an individual, team, organization, or classes thereof, having an interest in an Initiative.

 Stakeholders have concerns with respect to the Initiative considered in relation to its environment.

A  Whole Life Agent is an Agent that is not the temporal slice type of any other Agent.

Examples:

. A type of building such as a skycraper.

. A type of person such as a philosopher.

. A type of facility such as a Hospital.

A  Whole Life Asset Type is an Asset Type that is not the temporal slice type of any other Asset Type.

Examples:

. A type of building such as a skycraper.

. A type of person such as a philosopher.

. A type of activity such as a volcanic eruption.

. A type of facility such as a Hospital.