Software Engineering, 10th Edition

20.2 Systems of systems classification

Earlier, I suggested that the distinguishing feature of a system of systems was that two or more of its elements were independently managed. Different people with different priorities have the authority to take day-to-day operational decisions about changes to the system. As their work is not necessarily aligned, conflicts can arise that require a significant amount of time and effort to resolve. Systems of systems, therefore, always have some degree of managerial complexity.

However, this broad definition of SoS covers a very wide range of system types. It includes systems that are owned by a single organization but are managed by different parts of that organization. It also includes systems whose constituent ...