1.

Any aspect, controllable or uncontrollable, that affects the

system, but in turn
is not affected by it, is a system input.
2. Any aspect that is directly or indirectly affected by the
transformation process,
but in turn does not affect any other aspect of the system, is a
system output.
3. Any aspect that is part of the system’s structure or is affected by
an input (uncontrollable
or controllable) or by other aspects of the system and in turn
affects other aspects of the system, including outputs, is a
component or a
relationship.
4. Any aspect that does not affect the system, or is not affected by
it, or is not part
of its structure is irrelevant and can be ignored.