An ontological framework for clarifying flexibility‐related terminology via literature survey

TLDR

Flexibility in systems engineering is an ambiguous concept with many conflicting definitions and related terminology, making cross‑study comparisons difficult. The authors introduce a novel ontological framework to clarify and differentiate flexibility‑related terminology in systems engineering. The framework revealed dominant characteristics that enabled the authors to propose democratic definitions for flexibility, adaptability, robustness, and recommended definitions for agility and versatility. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Syst Eng 16.

Abstract

Abstract Despite its ubiquity in the systems engineering literature, flexibility remains an ambiguous concept. There exist a multitude of definitions, which vary not only by domain, but within domains as well. Furthermore, these definitions often conflict with one another, making it difficult to discern the intended meaning in a given study or to form generalizations across studies. Complicating matters, there is a plethora of related terminology that is often used carelessly and/or inter‐changeably with flexibility. In this paper, we employ a novel ontological framework for clarifying salient aspects of extant flexibility‐related terminology. While it was not possible to distill consensus definitions from the literature, we did identify certain dominant characteristics that enabled us to formulate a set of democratic definitions for flexibility, adaptability, and robustness, as well as recommended definitions for agility and versatility. We believe that the proposed definitions of these key system design principles may provide a baseline for improving analysis and communication among systems engineering practitioners and academics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 16: