2.3.2 Towards a Knowledge Based Soft Systems Engineering Method for Systems of Systems

A knowledge based soft systems engineering method for systems of systems investigations is described. The method is based on a combination of the positive features of existing methods from the systems engineering, management science and knowledge engineering literature. The methods on which it is based include Conventional Systems Engineering, Personal Construct Psychology, Quality Function Deployment, Soft Systems Methodology, Distributed Knowledge Engineering and Critical Systems Heuristics. It seeks to enable geographically dispersed participants to collaborate fairly to make joint knowledge about their collective needs and preferences explicit, and to capture these in a structured form in an electronic knowledge repository. Once such problem knowledge has been captured in a structured electronic form, automated reasoning techniques may be used to support decision-making concerning actions to take to resolve problems and take advantage of opportunities. These reasoning techniques might include artificial intelligence based techniques such as rule-based reasoning, probabilistic reasoning and constraint logic programming, as well as multi-objective mathematical programming under uncertainty techniques.