Word Models:
- Consist of words.
- Examples: a specification, an abstract
- Provide significant amount of information
- Can be structured in different ways
- Weakness: linear and not multi-dimensional – hard to provide complex relationships, can become unwieldy
Visual Models:
- Type of picture – ‘a picture paints a thousand words’
- Show a lot of information in small amount of space
- Show relationships between components/elections of situation/system
- Combine with word model – effective analysis of situation
- Example: London Underground map – not to scale and physical layout different to geographical layout. Provides multiple options for chosen journey. Valid model – functions correctly and consistently.
Mathematical Models:
- Contain numeric figures, functions or logical statements
- Effective at providing significant amounts of information
- Effective at producing summary information
- Range in format from list of numbers to formulae, balance sheets and spreadsheets
- Decision-making aid – able to provide key information
- Important in performance monitoring with metrics and KPIs
- Weakness: lack of context e.g. profit of x excludes info such as turnover, targets and costs
- Need to combine with word models to provide full view of situation