SYSE.17:0.1 - Terms and Distinctions

Name in this pattern	What it denotes
focus of inquiry	A proposed engineering alternative or change, together with the actual System or intended System referent and configuration to which it applies. If an observed result prompts the inquiry, use it as evidence for a newly stated change question.
consequence-bearing System	An actual System whose state or decision-relevant characteristic may change under the proposed alternative or change. A possible-future bearer remains an intended System referent inside a modal claim until it exists and can be recognized.
supported obtaining relation occurrence	An actual relation occurrence between identified participants under stated conditions. Record its predicate and conditions in a claim and support that claim with evidence; a line in a diagram is only a representation.
modal consequence-path claim	An episteme describing relations and changes that may connect the proposed alternative or change to a bearer, with candidate participants, conditions, evidence, uncertainty, and the limit that matters to the receiving decision. A probe is conditional on its selected contribution. Establish every world-side relation occurrence in the path separately.
consequence claim	A claim about a possible or observed change, bearer, conditions, direction, time, evidence, uncertainty, and causal status. The claim and its world-side change have separate identities.
value-qualified consequence claim	A descriptive consequence plus a stated value judgement—for example, benefit, harm, burden, or opportunity—under a named value frame, bearer, scope, and evidence.
affected-System claim	A consequence claim that identifies the System bearing the possible or observed change. It supports that bearer–consequence statement; establish any project assignment, authority, or other relation separately when the decision needs it.
unresolved decision need	An episteme naming a result or relation that the receiving decision needs but does not yet have—for example, additional evidence, a specialist result, an authority relation, an authorized representative, or a safeguard.
engineering consequence account	The episteme returned here: focus, examined situations, bearer references, supported obtaining relations, modal path claims, consequence claims, evidence, uncertainty, decision contributions, unresolved needs, and reopen conditions.

Test System identity independently for every population or collection. Candidate bearers include actual Systems such as a person, organization, technical System, or ecological System. Keep a not-yet-present or unidentified bearer as an intended System referent inside the modal claim. A project assignment or decision authority requires its own grounding.