# Nature of the influence factors The kind of influencing factors
The initial collection of terms is preferably done in an interdisciplinary brainstorming with "insiders" of the system by "scanning" it with the eight probing questions. Thus not only quantifiable data and facts but also opinions and qualitative values like wellness, attraction etc. will enter the variable set of the system whose components, factors and descriptions of course depend on the kind of the problem.
The seven questions deal with different angles of view. They guarantee that the main spheres of a viable system are represented in the set of the collected terms. Only this way you can be sure to get a holistic picture of realty [however rough it may be]. By the way, this is one of the system categories the sm-tool 'criteria matrix' asks for.
We add Kerry's System Needs Questions and Marc Pierson's Six Nested Questions