Systems with more and more sophisticated self-management capabilities are introduced in many application domains, such as robotics, the military, aerospace, ground vehicles, IT network and systems management.

So far, descriptions of such systems are neither decomposed into common modules nor aligned to a common reference model. For this reason, it is hard to compare them regarding common cross-domain properties of systems with self-management capabilities (SwSMC). It is also hard to transfer design knowledge from one application domain to another. A review of related work reveals few publications with guidance to analytical decomposition into functional modules and the identification of patterns specific to the structure and behavior as well as design and use of self-management capabilities.

To approach this problem, by using cross-domain evaluation criteria and identification of common patterns we can achieve uniformly structured system descriptions. The approach will be implemented by a common system model of SwSMC, an evaluation sheet for such systems, an evaluation results repository, a pattern catalogue and a set of recommendations how to apply the patterns during the design of such systems and keeping an eye on effectiveness and efficiency. So far, a system model and the evaluation sheet have been created, and some evaluations of research prototypes have been carried out. Despite the low number of evaluations so far, first patterns stand out.