Civitas Systems, Systems Thinking, Consulting, United States
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Facing a complex problem or a seemingly insurmountable problem? We can help you understand it--then solve it.

Civitas Systems addresses complex problems using systems thinking approaches, interdisciplinary tools, & data-driven methods. Our mission is to go beyond industry best practices to deliver research-grade insight, expertise, & project support for our clients.

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Our clients are researchers, educational institutions, civil society, NGOs, governments, decision-makers, businesses, & project teams - anyone facing complex challenges, including peacebuilding/conflict, political corruption, international development, climate change, renewable energy, & sustainability, and who seek to improve the lives of all humankind and for future generations.

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We proudly serve clients worldwide and particularly seek those from developing countries in the Global South, social enterprises, & nonprofit organizations.

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Services Offered

Project Support

Civitas Systems delivers flexible, high-quality, & attentive support to aid in any of your project & research needs. Maybe you are a small team lacking resources. Perhaps you find yourself working on a project requiring a particular set of skills. Sometimes you just need an extra set of hands in the short-term--or possibly even longer. We can be involved as much or little as desired based on your needs.

Consulting Expertise

Civitas Systems has over a decade of experience in sustainability, complex systems, & interdisciplinary engineering. With our expertise, we can help navigate you through systemic & complex problems inherent in today’s interconnected world. Through systems approaches (see next section), we offer new perspectives & methodologies to view problems and generate unique solutions.

Education

We aid in professional development through various educational offerings for you or your organization as guest speakers, lectures, workshops, & full courses. Whether an audience of hundreds or one-on-one mentoring, we support your learning needs with subject matter expertise, an engaging delivery, various teaching styles, high-quality resources.

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Civitas Systems supports all phases of your project--initial framing, literature review, data, analysis, writing, presenting, and beyond.

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We utilize quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches depending on your needs.

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We capably deliver the above services through proficiencies in the methods below.

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Our Approach

Complex Systems Thinking

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NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING - BREAK AWAY FROM TRADITIONAL REDUCTIONIST APPROACHES

Systems thinking is a philosophy, a way of thinking, and an integrated approach for understanding and problem-solving that contrasts traditional, reductionist approaches for inquiry and analysis - a language for talking about complex, interdependent issues. It focuses on addressing a problem holistically, accounting for all stakeholders’ & disciplinary perspectives. A system’s structure manifests dynamic behavior defined by delays, and systems thinking excels at identifying tipping points, unintended consequences, leverage points, and the effects of different policy interventions & strategies.


At Civitas Systems, we know the importance of systems thinking and its benefits. It is ingrained in our work ethic, project management style, & the suite of tools we employ, like the iceberg model, which is used to change perspective, see different levels of abstraction, & uncover the underlying causes influencing issues. Causal-loop diagrams (CLDs) & stakeholder maps tell a visual story of the system through the structural interactions of its elements & how the various actors influence one another. Stock-and-flow diagrams & behavior-over-time graphs build on CLDs by identifying key variables & how they change over time to understand the effect of various policy choices & interventions.

Network Analysis & Graph Data Science

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MAP COMPLEX STRUCTURES - ANALYZE INTERACTIONS - VISUALIZE RELATIONSHIPS

Networks are another area of systems science based on graph theory from mathematics that views the elements of the system as nodes & the interactions as edges. Network analysis is a set of integrated techniques & algorithms that depict & analyze the relationships among actors or elements in the network. Systems & networks are complementary and together they can describe, visualize, analyze, & model many complex problems. Where SD is explanatory & predictive by focusing on the dynamics and temporal factors influencing behavior, networks address the structural interactions of the system of how the components are connected in a more descriptive role.

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Networks are as ubiquitous as systems and come in countless types - social networks being relationships among people, the internet as many interconnected computers, and ecosystems of interconnected species, human migration among cities, & flow of global trade among transportation hubs. In fact, the path analysis algorithm is how your GPS finds directions. Centrality is another family of measures that describe the relative importance of parts of the network & their interrelationships.

System Dynamics Modeling

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MODEL COMPLEX SYSTEMS INTO THE FUTURE - PREDICTIVE OPTIMIZATION - POLICY ANALYSIS

Systems thinking creates a general qualitative picture of how the system operates. Then, System dynamics (SD) uses that insight as a foundation for quantitative models to predict how the system might behave under certain conditions & policy choices. SD is a specialization of systems science that merges numerical & differential equations with graphical representations to model complex systems for policy analysis, forecasting, prediction, optimization, sensitivity analysis, & general understanding.

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SD is a computer-aided methodology useful across a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, finance, international development, policy, business, economics, management, energy, & ecology - any system exhibiting complex interactions, dynamic behavior, internal feedback, & non-linearity. SD allows for insightful decision-making by seeing & planning for unintended consequences, avoiding the problem of short-term thinking, & identifying leverage points (critical locations to intervene). As a result, SD models allow for better project implementation, greater savings over time, and a higher likelihood of desirable & planned outcomes.

Data Analytics & Machine Learning

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YIELD INSIGHT FROM DATA - ADVANCED ANALYTICS - INFORMED DECISION MAKING

Data science is about solving problems with data - acquiring, processing, visualizing, analyzing, modeling, & communicating. It is a broad area encompassing computer science, programming, applied science, mathematics, business, economics, & policy.

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Supervised & unsupervised machine learning uses data mining, algorithms, & statistical methods to find patterns, classify, predict, & generate insight from qualitative & quantitative data. It complements systems approaches - inherently designed to handle large amounts of data, nonlinearity, many variables, & general complexity.

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Civitas Systems is proficient in many data science and machine learning techniques and Python libraries. No matter your needs, we offer a solution or strategy - advanced simulations, optimization models, sensitivity analysis, advanced graphs, interactive figures, & stunning visualizations. We are open &transparent with all our data & methodologies and provide informative, insightful, & easy to understand deliverables.

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Civitas Systems is proficient in research-grade, industry-leading tools. We use open-source programs as much as possible to minimize our expenses, maximize interoperability with other software, and make sure that all clients can use our products regardless of their financial situation.

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