The concepts underlying this guide are applicable to various kinds of systems, in the broad sense. In its broad sense the term refers to various kinds of systems, including ecological, social and engineering.
Although the concepts of this guide are applicable to systems in the broad sense, in this guide we focus on socio-technical systems, namely, technology driven systems, systems made by engineering, intended to support human activities.
All human-made systems, even the fully automated ones (such as certain space shuttles), involve operation by people. This guide deals mostly with those parts of the system operation involving people, mainly, the operators and the users.
In traditional engineering, the term System refers to the assembly of engineered (human-made) components. The system operators are not regarded as part of the system.
In this guide we use the term machine to refer to the system in the sense of traditional engineering. The term System is used here in its broad sense to refer to the a system in a broader sense, in which the operators are part of the system.
Updated on 28 Mar 2017.