Developing a Framework to Determine Appropriate Methodologies of Operations Research for System Architecting

Objective: System architecting as an approach to manage complexity includes four classical methods. However, there are no specific and accepted instruments and techniques and, in total, there is no process to create architecture for modern systems. Therefore, this research aims to determine the methodologies of the operations research field for system architecting. Methods: Systems architecting was considered as a problem, according to the definition in the field of operations research. Then, dimensions / variables and values ​​/ conditions related to the system architecting were defined based on the general comprehensive morphological analysis- as one of the methodologies of the soft operations research. The primary morphological field was defined based on theoretical foundations of system architecting by the researcher. Then, the ultimate morphological field was finalized and confirmed through semi-structured interviews with the system architecting experts and using thematic analysis. Finally, the morphology model was modeled with the help and support of the Swedish Morphological center. Results: After testing the model through the Carma software; cross-consistency assessment matrix was completed based on theoretical foundations of system architecting and operations research and was submitted to the Swedish Morphological center. The model was finalized in the seventh round. And then, different configurations / scenarios of the various types of system architecting situations were defined using Carma software. Conclusion: According to the morphological results, the soft system methodology (SSM) has the greatest potential for system architecting.