A reference model has also been developed for CSG.  

 == Complex Systems Problems == 
 Complex systems problems are considered a plague to modern complex systems that otherwise have considerably improved human societies, such as the intertwined systems that are essential to provide energy, utilities, healthcare, transportation, commerce, defense, security, and services.  

 Problems of complex systems are consistent with Ackoff’s (1997) notion of ‘messes’ (interrelated sets of problems that are not well formulated, understood, or easily resolved) as well as Rittel and Webber’s (1973) ‘wicked problems’ (problems that are intractable with current levels of thinking, decision, action, and interpretation). 

 Arguably, problems associated with complex systems have been in existence as long as man has been designing, operating, and maintaining systems, although, the landscape for modern systems has become a much more complex problem space, encountering technical, organizational, managerial, human, social, information, political, and policy difficulties. This problem domain is considered the ‘normal’ for complex systems in that it is inherent in their nature.  

 The problems of modern complex systems appear to be escalating in terms of frequency and severity, permeating human endeavors. The ability to isolate a complex system problem and bound it, in order to address it by traditional means of analytical disposition, seem somewhat shortsighted for many of our most vexing problems. It is also difficult to pinpoint cause and effect of complex systems problems, making their understanding and resolution quite difficult, as they are not reducible to the precision demanded by the current state and abstraction capabilities of our best mathematical applications. Likewise, true optimization is not possible and cannot be confirmed for these systems. Efforts to address complex systems problems at the surface level, may provide temporary ‘fixes’ but fail to resolve the deeper fundamental system issues.