1. PAN Software Tools
User Manuals
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2. Visual PAN
Visual PAN is a graphical editor implemented in MS Visio using a stencil of object and connector
types specific to PAN and extended with VB macros. It is used by the analyst to elicit, from the
stakeholders of a client enterprise, a relational model of that enterprise represented as a Visio
diagram arranged in non-exclusive layers, each appropriate to an aspect of the enterprise being
modelled and subject to corresponding syntactic restrictions as shown in the following diagrams:
Structure-Function Trace
Know-how (khow) that can alter the way Design that can alter the way in which
in which other know-how and capabilities other designs and systems determine
determine behaviour. Can be party to behaviour. Can be party to satisfying
satisfying customer situations. customer situations.
A capability (capy) determining the
A digital system (dsystem ) that can deter-
behaviour of another capability or of a
mine the behaviour of another system, a
process.
digital process or a physical process.
A physical process. A digital process (dprocess,) i.e. a
software process.
An event generated by a process.
Trace, a digital event created by a process
An outcome generated by a process and or a digital process.
capable of being contained by a customer
situation or party to the satisfaction of a
customer situation.
determines supplies ddetermines dsupplies
capy determines process system ddetermines dprocess
capy determines capy system ddetermines system
khow determines capy design ddetermines system
khow determines khow design ddetermines design
event supplies process event dsupplies dprocess
outcome supplies process outcome dsupplies dprocess
process supplies event trace supplies process
process supplies outcome trace dsupplies dprocess
system determines process dprocess dsupplies trace
process supplies capy csitn dsupplies dprocess
process supplies system dprocess dsupplies csitn
Hierarchy unit controls unit
unit controls order
unit controls dorder
A unit of vertical accountability over all the
unit controls design
entities it controls. (Also represents their
unit controls system
state.)
unit controls khow
unit controls capability
unit dsupplies dprocess
controls
dprocess dsupplies unit
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3. Synchronisation Demand
Order, the framing of a horizontal Problem domain (pdomain): The place
synchronisation of the entities it includes. from which the ‘I’ of the client system is
formulating its demands.
Dorder, the digital framing of a horizontal
synchronisation of the events and traces it Demand situation (d_sitn): a particular
includes. context-of- use.
A particular customer situation (csitn)
within a context-of-use representing a
frames dframes particular formulation of a demand within
that context. (Also represents the state of
order frames khow the demand).
order frames design A driver determining the nature of the
order frames csitn satisfaction demanded by a customer
order frames system situation.
order frames capy
order frames order satisfies drives contains
dorder dframes trace
dorder dframes event pdomain contains d_sitn
dorder dframes outcome d_sitn contains csitn
dorder dframes csitn csitn contains csitn
dorder dframes dorder driver drives csitn
csitn contains outcome
outcome satisfies csitn
khow satisfies csitn
design satisfies csitn
dsitn controls unit
dprocess dsupplies csitn
csitn dsupplies dprocess
The analyst constructs the model by selecting appropriate shapes from the PAN-specific stencil and
dragging them onto the diagram. When a shape is placed on the diagram, the user is prompted for
its name. Each named shape instantiates an object of the corresponding type specific to the client’s
enterprise.
Connectors are selected, dragged and placed similarly, their ends automatically locking onto
the shapes to which they are attached. Each such connector instantiates a relation in the client’s
enterprise model.
Properties may be assigned to any object at any time by opening its ‘Custom Properties’
window. Objects may be assigned properties according to their types, as follows:
event, trace and outcome: observable, granularity (spatial and temporal), scale and scope.
pdomain, d_sitn, csitn and driver: experience, particularity, relationality and moment.
unit, design, khow, capy, system, order and dorder: accountable, costs (fixed and variable),
timeframe and driver.
process and dprocess: behaviour.
Each aspect of the model has its own layer in the diagram. The contents of the layers may be
viewed in isolation, or any combination, by checking the appropriate boxes in the ‘Layer Properties’
of the ‘View’ menu. Additional layers are provided for explanatory comments and for the
identification of ‘areas’ comprising collections of objects that have some further significance to the
enterprise.
When the Visio diagram is saved using ’SaveAs’ under the ’File’ menu, with filename of the
form <model name>.vsd, Visual PAN generates the following two additional files and stores them
in the same directory:
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4. <model name>.kbs
a text file in which each relation of the diagram is expressed as a quintuple of the form:
<source object type> <source object name> <relationship name> <target object type>
<target object name>;
<model name>objects.csv
an Excel spreadsheet,, in the form of a comma-separated-values file , listing each object its
type and its properties, if any were specified; and
<model name>errors.txt
Although syntactic errors are reported and prohibited during the elicitation process, it is
possible to import a diagram, e.g. one produced by an earlier version of Visual PAN, by
copying and pasting. As such a diagram might not satisfy the current syntactic rules,
syntactic errors may be present when such a diagram is closed. These are reported in this
separate text file. When such a diagram is imported, the ‘Assign to Layers’ button should be
used to allocate the imported objects to their appropriate layers.
Stratifier
Stratifier is an Excel workbook, v<x>Strat.xls, where x is the version number, which executes a
sequence of relational algebraic operators, implemented as Visual Basic macros, that transform a
client’s model elicited in Visual PAN into the form of the following stratified matrix.
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5. The core levels — sub-matrices labeled 1-6 (the shaded boxes) — form a value stratification that
progresses from low-level services, systems, and know-how to high-level demand descriptions (this
progression is represented by the connecting arrows). The other numbered matrices model the
aligning structures that facilitate the overall enterprise’s ability to react to demand environment. The
major axes are composed of the simple and complex objects that model the enterprise’s assets,
capabilities, and processes.
On opening the Stratifier workbook, the user is prompted to select a Visual PAN model, i.e. a file
with name of the form <model name>.kbs.
The tool returns a separate Excel workbook with filename <model name>Strat.xls in the same
directory as the original model. This workbook contains the stratified matrix and several other
matrices derived from it by 'slicing' (a form of relational restriction defined in the Design section).
The user is then invited to identify further 'slices' by first selecting the matrix from which to
generate a new ‘slice’, then choosing whether to start with a row or a column, then selecting a non-
empty row or column from that matrix. Each such additional 'slice' is saved as a new sheet with an
appropriately derived name in the original workbook.
If the workbook <model name>Strat.xls already exists in the directory, the user is immediately
prompted to identify further slices that are added to the existing workbook as above.
Stratifier incorporates two further Excel workbooks that perform additional analyses, implemented
as VB macros, on the client's model, as follows:
Paths Analyser
The Analyser is a separate Excel workbook, v<x>Analys.xls, where x is the version number, that
identifies certain kinds of path (sequences of objects) through a client’s relational model and outputs
them in an Excel workbook.
On opening the Analyser workbook, the user is prompted to select a Visual PAN model, i.e. a file
with name of the form <model name>.kbs, and the tool then computes every path in each of the
following classes without further user intervention:
Design Structure Matrices (or DSMs), representing the adjacency of events and of processes, and
their transitive closures, representing the reachability relation on events and, respectively, processes.
Process Paths are sequences of processes and dprocesses, the first of each path having no inputs,
the last no outputs and, in each successive pair, an output of the first is an input to the second,
except where the first is a process, the second a dprocess and their shared object is an event or
outcome. These paths are derived directly from the Design Structure Matrix.
Proposition Paths are sequences of objects that denote different types of proposition that the
enterprise offers to its clients, as follows:
A c-type Proposition Path is a sequence of objects of types
pdomain — d_sitn — csitn* — [design | khow]* — [system | capy]* — process
each successive pair in which is in the relational model and in which, if C is the last c-sitn
and P is the last process in the path, then there must exist an outcome, O, such that both pairs
(P,O) and (O,C) are members of the relational model.
A K-type Proposition Path is a c-type Proposition Path extended with an order, O, that
frames both some csitn, C, in the path and a design or khow that satifies C.
A P-type Proposition Path is a K-type Proposition Path extended with a unit, U, that is both
controlled by some d_sitn, D, in the path and frames the order in the path.
An r-type path is a path that starts on a pdomain and ends on some csitn, C. Each such path
is extended by the outcome, O, and the process, P, such that both pairs (P,O) and (O,C) are
members of the relational model.
These paths are recorded on the worksheet ‘KPaths’ and distinguished by prefixing their index with
the letter r, c, K or P respectively. (These different forms of proposition are represented structurally
by the different layers in the stratification)
Accountability Paths are of two types, purely hierarchical, recorded on the worksheet ‘YPathsh’,
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6. and including the effects of synchronisation, recorded on worksheet ‘Ypathso’.
Cohesion
Cohesion is another separate Excel workbook, Cohesionv<x>.xls, where x is the version number,
that invites the user to select a workbook generated by Stratifier (i.e. with filename of the form
<model name>Strat.xls) then prompts for a column in matrix 6 (i.e. a customer situation). The user
provides a number in the required range and the corresponding column is checked to ensure that it
is non-empty. The user is then asked whether or not superstructure data should be included and
whether the complement of the cohesion matrix is required.
The cohesion series of matrices for the selected column together with their union, with or without
the selected options, is generated and deposited in a separate workbook named <model
name>Cohesion<slice name>.xls in the same directory as the Stratifier-generated workbook from
which it is derived.
Landscaper
The Landscaper is an Excel workbook that generates a 3-dimensional histogram for any simplicial
complex (see Design section) selected by the user.
It provides a simple graphical user interface with the following instructions:
To load a new simplicial complex, click on one of the buttons "PAN" or "EXCEL".
This prompts the user to select a file of the appropriate type.
[Note: ‘PAN’ files are those that were generated by an early version of the toolset and will not
be further considered here. ]
The ‘EXCEL’ button prompts for the selection of an Excel workbook whose sheets contain
simplicial complexes generated by the other PAN tools. A list of these names is output to a
table in the user interface.
To select a sheet from an Excel Workbook that has been loaded, double-click a sheet name in the
list that appears.
The simplicial complex on that sheet is prepared in normal, transposed and complemented
forms and the corresponding cells in the table.
To generate a new landscape, double-click an "x" in the table.
The required landscape is generated as a 3-dimensional histogram (see Design section) with
the same name as the selected simplicial complex and the user may manipulate this histogram
using the usual Excel tools. The table entry for the selected simplicial complex is changed to
‘o’.
To generate all the landscapes at a given threshold, double-click the threshold value.
To view a landscape that has already been generated, double-click an "o" in the table.
To return to this page, click "More"on the Menu Bar
To restart Landscape, click "Quit" on the Menu Bar
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