Summary
In this chapter, the concept of a system and its interfaces was explored in more detail.
The different concepts associated with a system, such as the levels of abstraction and the interactions between these levels and the presence of stakeholders, were defined on the ontology. Where interaction between different elements occurs, it is possible to identify an interface.
interfaces were defined in terms of their different types, either service-based or flow-based, and several properties were defined for each, such as flows and services. It was then shown how to model these interfaces by describing a standard set of views that allow different aspects of any interface to be represented.
Finally, all of these views were captured as part of an overall framework definition using the Framework for Architecture framework. This framework itself comprises a number of views that are used to describe the model.
Understanding the fundamental structure of a system is an essential...
