A method for generating respective self-description data modules with respect to at least one functionality and/or at least one component, device, or system, wherein a data collection is provided comprising engineering elements from at least one of the three data sources, where relationship information is ascertained in which each piece of relationship information is assigned to engineering elements of the data collection, a multigraph comprising nodes and connections between nodes is generated, a clustering method is applied to the multigraph to ascertain at least one sub-graph within the multigraph, a sub-graph is selected from the ascertained at least one sub-graph, and a self-description data module relating to a component and/or a functionality of the device or system is generated.