Composing Systems of Systems: Requirements for the Integration of Autonomous Computer Systems

Abstract

Information Systems in general carry or have embedded in their structure, elements that stem from the organization’s strategic, tactical, and operational goals. Finding elements of an organization’s strategic, tactical, or operational goals embedded in computer systems is not at all surprising, since most developers and programmers were taught how to successfully map such goals into the Information System. We are, however, in an era where technology allows us to develop systems that are composed of smaller autonomous parts (sometimes complete systems themselves) that are integrated together despite being bound by their corresponding organizational boundaries. Therefore integration is not only a technical challenge but an organizational one, too. In this chapter we address a number of issues, namely system composition, regulation, evolution, and dependability, using examples from the two case studies we worked on for three years.