System autonomy

System autonomy is a measure of how easy it is to operate and change a system independent of other systems.

Within computer systems, the term "coupling" is used to describe the amount to which the parts of a system depend on each other. System autonomy can be though of as a loose coupling between entire systems.

To achieve autonomy, systems should make no assumption about the details of other systems. This includes details of their internal data and processing, the technology they use, their location, and the timing of processing. A system should be free to change any of this without impacting any other systems.

System autonomy is closely related to system integration, because the methods of connection between systems largely dictate how autonomous the systems then become.