2.1. Preliminary work
Impact relations are the illustration of connections in
complex systems. Such connections can be summarized
within an impact network consisting of different types of
figures: target figures, actuating figures, auxiliary figures,
exogenous figures and endogenous figures. The target figures
are in case of the methodology the LPS target figures,
mentioned before. Auxiliary figures can be described
mathematically by other figures and help to illustrate the
connections of the complex system. Actuating figures cannot
be divided further. These figures can be influenced directly
during the implementation of an energy productivity measure
. Endogenous figures exist within a complex system, but
can only be influenced indirectly, e. g. the random occurrence
of technical trouble in production. The counterparts are
exogenous figures, which have influence on the system, but
cannot be affected by the system, e. g. a market driven
customer demand .
In case of the methodology, the complex system is an LPS
with a process chain consisting of several process steps. Since
the target figures of the system are known, the components of
the impact network can be found by splitting every LPS target
figure into a tree diagram as shown exemplarily in fig. 3.