Object-process networks & object-process diagrams : implementation issues for oil exploration systems

Abstract

This thesis discusses different ways to increase the ability of OPN (Object-Process- Network), a system-architecture meta-language, to model complex systems and identify architectures to address those systems. It proposes ways to generate "out-of-the-box" solutions to technical problems, to weight a portfolio of objects as a possible way to achieve system functionality, to examine which of the possible subsystems should be within the system boundary and to rank architectures based on the value they create for the system stakeholders. The thesis also provides case studies to examine the practical aspects of those proposals.