A development of reference models for computer systems

The use of reference models within the standards-generation process as a tool for standards makers is discussed in the context of the overall product life cycle. Examples of the reference models being explored by the IEE for computer system architecture are described, along with some alternative approaches. The importance of the reference model as an aid to human understanding and communication in the early stage of requirements elicitation is stressed. Also, the relatively unexplored dimension of management in the organizational-hierarchy sense is illustrated in a layered reference model now being used to describe large complex real-time systems with 10³ to 10⁴ user-identifiable functions