Initiative mapping methodology for system-of-systems applications

In this paper, we propose developing a generic approach to handle different system-of-systems applications, including (1) a framework to map or classify initiatives based on their contribution to different capabilities and (2) introduce an optimisation-based methodology that selects combinations of initiatives that will maximise the contribution to the capabilities, and ultimately maximises the yield or benefit of the entire system. The approach will focus on using subject matter experts to obtain rankings of capabilities. The optimisation of initiative selection will utilise binary integer programming and desirability mapping to ascertain the overall effectiveness of the combined initiatives. After conducting multiple simulation runs at various budget constraints, the ‘heavy hitters’ are dominant and the ‘big losers’ time and time again are not chosen. The resulting selection is a subset of the total number of initiatives, and can be subsequently evaluated in greater detail than trying to evaluate the entire selection and all of the possible combinations.