System Engineering (Lecture)
Midterm:
History of Systems Engineering
Engineering - The branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of
engines, machines, and structures.
Systems engineering
is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design,
integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles.
At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking principles to organize this body of knowledge.
The individual outcome of such efforts,
It can be defined as a combination of components that work in synergy to collectively perform a
useful function.
It helps people understand and solve complex problems by taking something very complex, breaking it
into smaller parts, and putting it back together again.
Examples of System Engineering
1. Planning a trip
2. Planting a garden
3. Planning your commute to work
Introduction to the Systems Engineering Process
The Systems Engineering (SE) methodology in product development brings together all related disciplines and
functions to cover the full system development lifecycle from concept to design, implementation, operation,
maintenance, all the way to retirement. While it is broadly used nowadays, Systems Engineering can still mean
different things for different types of products, companies, and industries.
What is the Systems Engineering process?
Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach that was designed to create efficient and successful systems
while staying on budget and schedule. Coined in the 1950s, it was initially meant for large-scale defense systems in
the US, but has since evolved to a broader discipline used across industries as a product development guideline. It
can be applied to any type of system development, whether you are working on a defense system, vehicle,
household appliance, or even building the house itself – Systems Engineering is widely applicable to help manage
complexity.
As an approach, it puts a special emphasis on the following procedural aspects:
a) meeting customer needs,
b) defining requirements early on in the development cycle,
c) working closely with stakeholders,
d) documenting everything meticulously along the way.
Using Systems Engineering techniques, you can then proceed to the design synthesis and system
validation stage with a full view of the problem and the proposed solution you have in mind.
Basic principles of Systems Engineering
Before we dive into the various steps of Systems Engineering, it’s worth reviewing the core principles which give
shape to this methodology so that you can use them to leverage the benefits of Systems Engineering to the fullest
extent possible:
Define the problem before coming up with a solution
It may sound obvious, but many teams kick off a project with a solution on the table before the problem has even
been thoroughly analyzed. And when you start from the perspective of a solution, you may end up defining
requirements and risks which match the solution you had in mind, instead of using the Systems Engineering design
process to identify the best possible solution for that specific requirement. There may be a whole variety of ways
to solve the problem you want to fix: it’s more likely you’ll pick the best one if you define the problem first.
Involve stakeholders from the beginning
The most successful projects keep their stakeholders close throughout the entire process of product development.
This means involving customers, users, operators, technical personnel, and any other relevant stakeholders at
regular intervals. For this reason, the Systems Engineering approach includes a series of reviews and decision
points that are implemented to ensure visibility, encourage early feedback from everyone involved, and make sure
that everyone is on the same page. This applies to the initial requirements definition phase and all the way through
systems verification and acceptance. It gives stakeholders many opportunities to give feedback and contribute
insights and highly valuable inputs.
Break the system down into smaller parts
Modern systems are vast and complex, and getting more so every year with the advent of technology – not to
mention the growing number of product variants. One of the key principles of the Systems Engineering strategy is
to break down a big system into many small subsystems and then breaking down the subsystem into its software
and hardware components to make development easier to manage. Building the components separately (while
still having a picture of the whole system and all its moving parts) is significantly easier to do. Then the
components and whatever problems they face can be mastered and recombined into the bigger system.
Ensure traceability throughout the whole process
It’s all about being able to retrace your steps to see what has changed and why. This is why the link between all the
items and actions in the Systems Engineering lifecycle process is called traceability. When you move from one step
to another, it’s important to be able to connect those steps together and to make them visible to everyone else in
the team (as well as auditors).
For example,
once you’ve defined a requirement, you can connect that to a user need, which is then connected to risks, tests,
and verification steps. Ideally, any and all changes to all these artifacts are also recorded for version control.
Making sure that you have traceable steps throughout the process helps everyone stay on top of changes, allowing
for effective collaboration and compliance when it comes down to it. This helps having faster and more efficient
impact analyses. Change management won’t be the nightmare it used to be without traceability.
Overview of Systems Engineering processes
Now that we’ve reviewed the core principles of the Systems Engineering approach, it’s time to understand how
these can be applied in the product development process.
Systems Engineering is all about trying to manage the system through its entire lifecycle and to manage all the
relevant relationships to other related systems.
Lifecycle - is generally broken down into several stages, where each one has its own characteristics and purpose.
6 (six) generic lifecycle stages through which a system evolves:
1. Concept,
2. Development,
3. Production,
4. Utilization,
5. Support,
6. Retirement.
Understanding the needs for each stage from the beginning will help you have a better system definition right from
the outset. Let’s take the example of an embedded battery! Such a component has implications for various
stakeholders along the lifecycle. You’ll have to consider the use cases and requirements and how they affect the
various
lifecycle stages and stakeholders:
1. Support Stage: Maintenance Agent: accessibility to the battery, ability to diagnose, ability to replace, etc.
2. Production Stage: Assembly Worker: Battery needs to fit in, has to be easy to handle, assembly steps
shouldn’t be overly complex or take too long so as not to delay the pace of production.
3. Retirement Stage: Environmental regulatory administrations: Ability to safely dispose of the battery.
To support managing the complexity of the lifecycle, standards have been defined and proposed as reference
models that help cover all the aspects needed.
For example, ISO/IEC 15288 defines the following process groups:
1. Technical processes: Covers the core technical processes related to the system itself. From analyzing the
mission and the needs through the definition and verification of requirements all the way to maintenance
and disposal.
2. Technical Management Processes: These are the processes that will help manage the complexity of the
technical processes. They cover the tasks of putting together a team and making sure that resources, risks,
information, and quality are well managed.
3. Agreement Processes: Partnering is necessary for managing complex systems in the modern world. These
processes will help manage the purchasing and supplier relations relevant to the system of interest.
4. Organizational Project-enabling Processes: Enabling processes that make sure the organization is fit for
developing and managing complex systems.