Canonical system inventory
Each system is defined by one contribution, one boundary, the record types it owns and those it only reads, so duplicate ownership is caught in review rather than in production.
GCRI · Foundry
Systems engineering at Foundry
Systems engineering keeps a many-system environment coherent: one owner per record type, explicit interfaces, requirements traced to evidence, and boundaries that say what each system must never do. In this field it is how a change in one system is kept from reaching another unannounced.
01Register
Systems engineering at Foundry on the record.
Method recordSTEM method
- MethodSystems engineering
- Applied inFoundry
- Data4 inputs
- Checks4 validation steps
- Canonical pageSTEM Commons
02Application
What systems engineering does here.
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach to designing and managing complex systems over their life cycle. It focuses on requirements, interfaces and interactions so that the whole performs as intended. In data and compute and methods and modelling, systems engineering exposes interfaces where failures propagate between components and organisations. It supports designing interconnected infrastructure with explicit dependency management. The canonical description is on the STEM Commons.
Contract-first interfaces
Service contracts are written in Protobuf and OpenAPI before implementation, versioned, and checked for breaking change on every build against the consumers that depend on them.
Requirements traced to evidence
Each requirement links to the test, analysis, inspection or demonstration that verifies it, and the evidence record is kept separate from the claim that the requirement is met.
03Monitor
Network analysis.
The screen a team would use to follow this method: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Network analysis
Foundry · Systems engineering at Foundry · Run R-3266
Single point of failureGCRI · Foundry
Dependency graph
nodes: assets · edges: dependencies
Most central nodes
| N3 | 0.22 | 8 | Critical |
| N4 | 0.11 | 4 | Normal |
| N5 | 0.40 | 10 | Normal |
| N6 | 0.35 | 5 | Normal |
Cascade size under removal
04Data
What the method consumes.
Datasets and records used by systems engineering on this platform, with the role each plays and the label its values carry. Sources are listed in the source register.
| Data | Role | Label |
|---|---|---|
| System registry | Ownership and boundaries | DECLARED |
| Interface contracts | Compatibility analysis | DECLARED |
| Test and verification records | Requirement evidence | OBSERVED |
| Configuration management records | Change and baseline control | OBSERVED |
05Methods and evidence
How Systems engineering at Foundry is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Model, equations and assumptions
The model structure used for Systems engineering at Foundry, the assumptions it makes and how each is tested.
Risk of element i
Ri = f(Hi, Ei, Vi, Ci)hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacityExpected annual loss
EAL = ∑k pk · Lkover events k with annual probability pkCoupled systems
xt+1 = A xt + B ut + εtA carries the couplings, u the shock, ε the error| Assumption | Why it is made | How it is tested |
|---|---|---|
| Hazard and exposure are independent within an event | Keeps the loss integral tractable | Compare with a copula fit on joint records |
| Couplings are linear near the operating point | Lets shocks propagate through A | Perturb beyond the linear range and compare |
| Vulnerability curves transfer between places | Local curves are rarely available | Validate against observed losses where they exist |
- Inputs
- versioned datasets with provenance
- Outputs
- distributions, never single numbers
- Code
- released with the model card and tests
- Reproduction
- same data, code, environment and seed
FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
06Validation
How results are checked.
Each requirement is traced to verification evidence from analysis, inspection, demonstration or test. Independent reviews check completeness at life cycle gates.
| Check | How it is done |
|---|---|
| Single ownership review | Each record type is checked for exactly one declared owning system |
| Compatibility gate | Breaking interface changes fail the build unless a versioned migration is declared |
| Traceability audit | A sample of requirements is followed to current verification evidence |
| Independent gate review | Life-cycle gates are reviewed by people outside the delivering team |
Emergent behaviour in open or socio-technical systems may not be captured by requirements. Rigid processes can slow adaptation to change.
07Process
How the process runs.
Process
Systems engineering at Foundry: Cascade across systems
An initial hazard can trigger later risks and events; this illustration draws one cascade across systems such as energy, water, ICT, health and transport.
01 Hazard
- 01Initiating hazardDataset · Security officerCascading risk is the risk that hazard events trigger later risks and events, through chains of interrelated hazards or impacts.
02 First-order systems
- 02Example system: energyModel · System operatorAn example of a system a hazard can hit first. What depends on it is set by a dependency survey.
- 03Example system: waterModel · System operatorA second example of a system a hazard can hit first. Its links to other systems are shown as examples only.
03 Second-order systems
- 04Example system: ICTModel · System operatorAn example of a system that may depend on others, for example on backup power. Survey data set the real dependencies.
- 05Example system: health servicesModel · System operatorAn example of a system that may depend on water, power and data. Survey data set the real dependencies.
- 06Example system: transportModel · System operatorAn example of a system that may depend on ICT, fuel and logistics. Survey data set the real dependencies.
04 Limiting the cascade
- 07Buffers and redundancyStep · Security officerBuffers, redundancy and restoration can limit how far an impact spreads. The OECD report moves from single assets to system resilience.
- 08Restoration prioritiesDecision · Security officerThe responsible party sets which services are restored first, under its own rules.
Outline of an external standard or method, from its public sources. It describes what the framework says, not a record of any run. It does not show that Nexus or any partner performs, certifies or approves a step. A gate is a step of the method, never a Nexus approval. The dependencies are examples. A dependency survey for the place sets them.
08Connections
Topics that rely on this method.
09Stewardship
Who maintains the method.
Systems Science and Modelling stewards systems engineering for the Consortium and reviews how it is applied across platforms.
10Connected
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
11Questions
Questions and answers.
What are the limits of systems engineering in this field?
Emergent behaviour in open or socio-technical systems may not be captured by requirements. Rigid processes can slow adaptation to change.
How are results checked?
Each requirement is traced to verification evidence from analysis, inspection, demonstration or test. Independent reviews check completeness at life cycle gates.
Are the values on this page real?
The data names, roles and checks are real descriptions of practice. The canvas shows a design of the method’s use, not a run; no result is reported here.
Where else is this method applied?
The canonical method page lists every platform that applies it.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
GCRIFoundryFoundry Build and Readiness
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
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