A dynamic version of the FRAM for capturing variability in complex operations

Vahid Salehi; Doug Smith; Brian Veitch; Natasha Hanson

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2021.101333

A dynamic version of the FRAM for capturing variability in complex operations

MethodsX. 2021 Apr 2:8:101333. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2021.101333. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Vahid Salehi¹, Doug Smith¹, Brian Veitch¹, Natasha Hanson²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada.
² Research Services, Horizon Health Network, Saint John Regional Hospital, St. John's, Canada.

Abstract

Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) is a function-based approach to model complex socio-technical systems and to manage variability. The current FRAM related tools are unable to capture qualitative and quantitative characteristics of variability as well as temporal variations. This study presents in detail a dynamic FRAM-based tool, which is called DynaFRAM. It is introduced to address the variability-related deficiencies of the FRAM related tools. It aims to capture variability in complex operations. It is a dynamic tool developed to capture time related variations in complex operations. This increases the attractiveness of the DynaFRAM for complex operations where specialists and practitioners make decisions in complicated situations. The ability of the DynaFRAM is demonstrated by examining a healthcare related case study. Although the ability of the DynaFRAM is assessed through capturing variations in healthcare operations, it can be applied to other domains in a similar manner.•The DynaFRAM is a dynamic FRAM-based tool.•It is able to captures different characteristics of variability.•It facilitates understanding and analysis of variability in complex operations.

Keywords: Healthcare operations; Instantiation; Temporal variations; Variability.