Systems of Systems Engineering in the Enterprise Context: A Unifying Framework for Dynamics

Systems of systems engineering (SoSE) takes place in the broader context of an enterprise, which we define very generally as a purposeful or industrious undertaking. Enterprises of greatest interest for SoSE are typically complex, multi-agent organizations or sets of organizations exhibiting the characteristics of complex adaptive systems, including evolutionary and emergent behaviors at multiple scales. The most fundamental of enterprise purposes are manifest in enterprise operations, in which the enterprise interacts with the larger world external to itself, and this aspect of enterprise dynamics is modeled. SoSE is but one aspect of an enterprise's activities, and the whole set of enterprise activities is predominantly oriented towards accomplishing and supporting the enterprise's mission in operations. This paper proposes a unifying framework for understanding and modeling the organizational, technical, and system complexities of enterprise dynamics across a range of enterprise types as major acquisition program initiatives are undertaken to provide improved operational capabilities