Managing ICS Complexity

1. Managing ICS Complexity Professor Mark Haselkorn TC 520

2. Standing Technical Communication on its Head From particular instance of communication out To Communication systems and environment in ------------ View these systems as an information product

3. Overview • General background on ICS complexity • Specific situational issues (an organizational example) • Lessons for managing ICS complexity

4. ICS Complexity ICS versus a Roof

5. ICS Complexity • ICS is Pervasive • ICS is Multi-Purpose • ICS Elements are Diverse and Dynamic • ICS is Less Reliable than Traditional Infrastructure • ICS Elements are Interdependent

6. ICS is Pervasive • Everywhere yet not anywhere in particular • People see/touch small piece of overall system • People usually seek to control their piece • When there are problems, reverse is true • Confusion over ownership and responsibility • More an environment than a discrete machine

7. ICS is Multi-Purpose • Not obvious who is using it or what they are using it for • True at many levels (e.g. content, management) • Honest differences of perspective as to the most desirable features

8. ICS Elements are Diverse and Dynamic • Consists of a wide diversity of levels and elements, each with unique attributes and issues • For example, • rate of change • PC environments • organizational diversity

9. The System Rollover • Hardware (RTC) • BIOS • Operating System • I/O devices, peripherals, etc. ------------------------------------------------------- • Application Software • Data/Databases/DBMS ------------------------------------------------------- • Users • Policies & Practice • Organizations • Economic Sectors • Society Representation Processing Sharing Co-evolution © Mark P. Haselkorn, 1998

10. ICS is Less Reliable than Traditional Infrastructure • High-reliability vs. COTS • Programming as an art • Incredible complexity • Historical perspective

11. ICS Elements are Interdependent • Compatibility • System of systems • Funding

12. Situational Issues • Like documents, ICS management is situational • Tied to, for example, an organization’s • Mission • Strategic objectives • Environment • Culture

13. Mission and Functional Objectives • For example • National security • Information superiority • Flexible capability • Multi-functional • Increase response capability by detaching logistics from operations • Highest demand for security and information assurance

14. Security and Information Assurance • Information value has accompanying risk • Holds for all ICS levels • e.g. communications, data, practice • Risk TO systems from the outside versus risk FROM internal system complexities • Functional strength versus security • Integration of IA and CIP

15. Organization, Policy and Decision-making • Organizational “homes” of ICS and how they contribute to policy and practice • For example, Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 • “executive agency” versus distributed, frontline operational management and use • Functional (stovepipe) versus cross-functional • Acquisition and fielding versus use and maintenance

16. Personnel and Training • Most important element? • Market competition • Job classifications and work conditions • Reliance on informal training and experience • Turnover

17. Geographic and Organizational Dispersion • CONUS versus OCONUS • Organizational attachments • Autonomy • Resources • Mission-related issues • International differences

18. Lessons for Managing ICS Complexity • “Modern technology and society have become so complex that traditional ways and means are not sufficient any more but approaches of a holistic or systems, and generalist or inter-disciplinary nature become necessary.” • Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von, General System Theory (Revised Edition), New York, 1998. • Consider ICS management under stress—Y2K

19. Need for New ICS Management Strategies • ICS cannot be understood and managed independent of interactions with other systems and with the environment. • Increased awareness of interdependencies and shared responsibilities across and outside of an organization • Manage as an organized whole

20. New Considerations in Problem Definition and Stratification • Breakdowns in traditional management begin at the most basic, definitional levels • Failure of efforts to stratify the problem • Not only does technical complexity make it difficult to identify the boundaries of a given issue, but even more importantly the interplay between technical systems and their non-technical environment dynamically affect basic notion of key definitions like “critical.”

21. Shift in Focus from Technology to Data, Knowledge, and Mission • “Computer-centric” perspective • Use of data seen as separate from system • But databases do many things • Changes to data drive changes to technology • Data problems can have disastrous implications independent of whether or not hardware and software are performing as intended • “Data-centric” perspective

22. Aligning Operational and Strategic Management with ICS Management • “Data-centric” impact not only on ICS professionals but also strategic managers • Many difficulties from differences • “Correct” based on technical knowledge versus “best” based on negotiated consensus • Tolerance for risk • But necessary to bridge the gap

23. Many Others • Manage cross-functionally • Can’t just manage what you understand • Fund differently • Manage people before technology • More about balancing competing “goods” than choosing between right and wrong • Don’t return to business as usual