DynaFRAM is a complementary software to the FRAM Model Visualizer (FMV).
The FMV allows users to build and visualize FRAM models of any functional
system, but most commonly is used to visualize socio-technical systems.
As users of the FRAM will know, an initial FRAM model should represent all the
potential ways a system can function. The FMV can help you visualize
your application up to this point.
The next step in a FRAM assessment is to think about the variability. How many
of the combinations of the potential possibilities are plausible? Which variations
are used most often? which variations lead to "good" outcomes? which variations lead
to poor outcomes? The answers to these questions are usually not obvious.
One way to approach these questions critically is to start monitoring the
functionality of the system each time it is executed. This is also consistent
with the practice of dealing with "work-as-done" vs "work-as-imagined" in the
FRAM. We can monitor this variability as "functional signatures."
Functional signatures can be thought of as a "unique" functional variation
that belongs to a specific execution of the system. Each execution is
"unique" in that is belongs to a specific event and moment in time. However,
there may be many similarities between functional signatures and only a few
differences. The differences in functional signatures may offer functional explanations
for variability in the outcomes of the system. By collecting/recording functional signatures
of the system, there is an opportunity to compare them and enrich your understanding
of how functional variations affect the overall outcomes of systems you may be
trying to manage. Functional signatures are comparable to instantiations
in the current FRAM literature. When I was developing this concept, instantiations
were not explicitly thought of this way - so I developed the term "functional
signatures*."
The DynaFRAM software allows users to upload their FRAM models from the
original FMV, create an input file of a specific functional signature or
instantiation, then animate the functionality of that specific event over
the original FRAM model.
Suppose you had a FRAM model of a healthcare process, as shown below. The FRAM model should describe
all of the ways the system can function to deal with "every" healthcare related issue
that this system is responsible for.
If you were to track 1 patient through this process you may see specific outputs of
certain functions and that only a few of those functions became active as this patient
was cared for. Below is the functional signature for that patient. You should note that
1 second = one day of time in this video (it is sped up).
The details of this process are not important at this stage. It is more important that
you recognize that another patient will have a different functional signature as they
"pass through" this system. By collecting many functional signatures there is an opportunity to
compare the variability (similarities and differences) in the collection. And also that this "method" is transferable to many other applications
besides healthcare.
Download DynaFRAM
Version 4 of DynaFRAM can be downloaded at the following link:
* An updated version of the DynaFRAM and user manual was added April. 26, 2023.
It is recommended that you uninstall any prior version of DynaFRAM and install this version.
DynaFRAM is not to be repackaged or resold for any commercial purpose(s).
