ANALYSIS METHOD

A FRAM model is a representation of how an activity is carried out, as seen from a specific viewpoint. This viewpoint may be that of a particular person (an expert), of a homogeneous social group (of professionals or peers), of a heterogeneous team or mixed social group (analysts and practitioners), or it may represent the consensus of a profession.

If we consider two FRAM models as two descriptions of the same activity, representing the viewpoints of, e.g., doctors and their secretarial staff, the models may differ in terms of the number of functions they contain. What may look as a single function from one perspective (call it ‘D’) may be seen as several functions from another perspective (call it ‘S’). In that sense, D may find some functions in S’s model that they had not previously recognised or thought of, and vice versa.

From a terminological point of view, we can say that one function in D’s FRAM model is expanded in S’s FRAM model, to ‘reveal’ one or mode sub-functions. These sub-functions will previously have been unknown or ‘hidden’ for D, but of course not for S. In the same way, there may be functions in S’s FRAM model that are expanded in D’s model, simply because S did not see the work in the same way as D.

In this example, the terms ‘expand’ and ‘collapse’ are used to describe how two FRAM models of the same activity may differ. The terms ‘expand’ and ‘collapse’ are obviously relative, since there is no particular level of detail in the model that can be taken as the standard or reference.

Expanding and collapsing functions may, however, also be used to describe how different versions of a model can change, as it goes through several iterations. The building of a model usually starts by a small number of functions. As these are described in further detail, and as additional functions are introduced to account for the origins and destinations of aspects, the model may grow rapidly. At some stage it may be reasonable to collapse a set of functions, which means that two or more functions are replaced by just one function (maintaining, of course, the couplings of the aspects). Similarly, it may sometimes be necessary to expand a function, by replacing it by two or more (sub)functions, in order better to describe how an activity is carried out.