Function and Service
The system of interest is conceived as a deliverable product (a physical object). Such a system is typically manufactured by a project team from raw materials purchased by that team, and then physically delivered to the customer. Once in the customer’s hands, this product performs the requested function, operating as part of the supersystem during its use.
For example, suppose you are a watch manufacturer, and for you, the watch is the system of interest. Clients use your systems of interest in two ways:
- First, as part of their own system of interest. For instance, your watch-product is installed by the client in their passenger vehicle-product, and then the client sells the vehicle to their own customer, with the watch displaying the time during the vehicle’s operation.
- Second, the client uses the watch as part of the creation system for their vehicle product (the vehicle is your client’s product). For example, your watch-product is installed by the client on the wall of their workshop, so that workers can keep track of time during the assembly of the vehicle.
An alternative approach is to sell not systems-products, but services. For example, you could provide the exact time upon request. It may be that, for both the vehicle and the workshop, a watch-product is preferable to a service like providing the exact time on demand. But there is a well-known example of a service: taxi. You can sell a vehicle-product, or you can sell a transportation service.
To provide a service, you need to create a system that will deliver that service. In this case, you are not selling the system itself; the client pays you for the service provided. If we take the example of a vehicle, it is a product. You can sell the vehicle so that the client acts as both the driver and the passenger—essentially, they drive themselves. Or you can offer a transportation service, in which case the client is only the passenger. Your system that organizes the transportation service consists, at a minimum, of a vehicle and a driver who is your employee.
Usually, a service is offered by a creation system—that is, an enterprise. A good example is the hotel service. There is a hotel that provides accommodation and overnight stays.
A service is a behavior, a job, a utility. It is delivered by a service-oriented enterprise or system: service equipment, a server, a department, a provider. Do you notice the difference in these words?
Let’s recall that we also referred to system behavior as a function. By their nature, function and service are not different. Both are behaviors of a system (functional or role-based). So why do we need two different terms?
The reason is that these are different types of jargon, each characteristic of a different perspective. The term “function” is used by external project roles who want to obtain a certain behavior in the supersystem. We say that a system’s function is assigned from the outside; it is needed in the supersystem. The term “service” is used by internal project roles who create the system that will, in a sense, deliver a service outward. But will the delivered service actually become the requested function? That’s what determines success.
So, the term “service” is the system’s perspective on its environment. The reverse perspective—from the environment or supersystem toward the system—is “function.” And it’s entirely possible that a function may have a different name. The service of hammering a nail may become the function of joining boards. The service of drawing in water may become the function of circulating antifreeze.
A function is the system’s behavior as seen from the supersystem, when clients need a specific function for some reason. A service is the system’s behavior as seen from its developer, who says, “I don’t know why it’s needed, but I can use a certain service to change the environment (the world).” Or, the term “function” can be used to consider the behavior of a system in the supersystem[1] as a functional or role-based object. The term “service” can be used to consider the behavior of a system in the supersystem as a structural object. Most often, “service” refers to the behavior of the creation system, which acts upon the system of interest.
So don’t be surprised if you hear two completely different conversations about the same subject, the same product, and the same behavior. This is a feature of differing interests.
Clients often say that the service provided does not meet their needs. This means that clients expect to receive a certain function, but the quality of the service does not meet their expectations. For example, you spend the night in a hotel. You need to get a good night’s sleep, take a shower, and so on. This is one perspective, expressed in terms of needs and functions. There is also the perspective of the manager and other roles who design and manage the hotel. Here, the management team considers the services provided to guests. If the subsystems and the hotel as a whole are poorly designed[2], complaints about service quality arise. Clients cannot criticize their own requests (that is, they do not use the jargon of functions), so they criticize in the language of the management company—they say that the service[3] is poor.
It is important to understand that manufacturers and service-oriented companies want to name their system-products and services so that potential buyers can quickly see their own functional needs reflected in them. How well they succeed at this is determined by the market.
In this regard, it is important for companies to position their services correctly, so that people outside the target audience do not accidentally use them. For example, if Aisystant offers its current educational services to schoolchildren or those seeking easy learning, we will definitely receive feedback about poor-quality education.