A framework of system integration and integration value analysis: Concept and case studies

Abstract In modern society, system integration that enables multiple subsystems to function as one is emerging in various fields like industry, commerce, and infrastructure. Although it has been proved that integration value could be tapped to the maximum with controllable cost by optimising the integration schemes in certain fields, there is still a lack of a general method for modelling and analysing the process of system integration. To address this need, this paper proposes an analysis framework of system integration. The concepts of integration object, integration strategy, integration time, integration cost and integration value are introduced to describe the integration process. Further, three optimisation models of the local optimisation (OPT1), phase optimisation (OPT2) and integration optimisation (OPT3) are constructed. The proposed framework can also supervise and compare the performance of intermediate processes of different integration schemes. Two case studies in the commerce and energy fields are analysed to illustrate the function of the proposed framework.