SYSTEMS, SYSTEMS

FUNDAMENTAL AND
SYSTEMS SCIENCE
SYSTEM THINKING COURSE
2ND MEETING
DR. –ING. NOVIE SUSANTO, ST, [Link]
 AN INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

THE ART OF MANAGING COMPLEXITY

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SYSTEMS
WHAT IS SYSTEM

One influential systems science definition of a system

comes from general system theory (GST):

"A System is a set of elements in interaction."

(von Bertalanffy 1968)
ELEMENTS OF A SYSTEM

• abstract systems to contain only conceptual elements

• concrete systems to contain at least two elements that

arereal objects, e.g. people, information, software and physical
artifacts, etc.
 SYSTEM BOUNDARY
• closed systems all aspects of the system exist within this boundary. This
idea is useful for abstract systems and for some theoretical system
descriptions.
• The boundary of an open systems defines those elements and
relationships which can be considered part of the system and those which
describe the interactions across the boundary between system elements and
elements in the environment.

Systems thinking and systems science and some systems approaches

(glossary) make use of abstract closed systems of ideas to define and
organize concepts
OPEN SYSTEM
• The relationships between the various elements of an open system can be
related to a combination of the system's structure and behavior.
• The structure of a system describes a set of system elements and the
allowable relationships between them.
• System behavior refers to the effect produced when an instance of the system
interacts with its environment.
• An allowable configuration of the relationships between elements is referred
to as a system state and the set of allowable configurations as its state space .
The following is a simple classification of system elements:
 Natural elements, objects or concepts which exist outside of any practical
human control. Examples: the real number system, the solar system,
planetary atmosphere circulation systems.
 Human elements, either abstract human types or social constructs, or
concrete individuals or social groups.
 Technological elements, man-made artifacts or constructs; including physical
hardware, software and information.
OPEN SYSTEMS DOMAIN
In the SEBoK, three related open system domains are considered:

• A natural system is one whose elements are wholly natural.

• A social system includes only humans as elements.
• An engineering system is a man-made aggregation which may
contain physical, informational, human, natural and social
elements; it is normally created for the benefit of people.
SYSTEM CLASSIFICATION • Control mechanism
• Socio-cultural systems
• Open systems
• 1. Structures (Bridges)
• Static structures
• 2. Clock works (Solar system)
(BERTALANFFY, 1968)
• 3. Controls (Thermostat)
• 4. Open (Biological cells) • Natural systems
• 5. Lower organisms (Plants) • Designed physical systems
• 6. Animals (Birds) • Designed abstract systems
• 7. Man (Humans) • Human activity systems
• 8. Social (Families) • Transcendental systems
• 9. Transcendental (God) (Checkland, 1999)
(BOULDING, 1956)
 OVERVIEW

• Systems Engineering has emerged as a distinct professional

discipline in direct response to the increasing complexity
of new development projects.

• We will review some of the reasons for the emergence of

this discipline and discuss the tools and methodologies
that have been established as a means for dealing with
increasing system complexity.

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OUTLINE
• What is Systems Engineering?
• Emergence of the Discipline
• Role of the Systems Engineer
• The SE Process, Methodologies, and tools
• Setting standards
• SE, the ultimate solution?
• References

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WHAT IS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING?

• It is not fundamental mathematics or strict laboratory science

• It is a mix of HR, project management, business, rational
decomposition, trade studies, requirements traceability,
integration, testing, verification and validation, operations, and
end of life cycle disposal of systems
• Standardizes the flow-down and traceability of specifications for
complex products from customer requirements through
production, operation , and disposal
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WHAT IS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING?
• Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and
means to enable the realization of successful systems.
• It focuses on defining customer needs and required
functionality early in the development cycle, documenting
requirements, then proceeding with design synthesis and
system validation while considering the complete problem:
 Operations
 Performance
 Test
 Manufacturing
 Cost & Schedule
 Training & Support
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WHAT IS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING?

• Systems Engineering integrates all of the disciplines and specialty

groups into a team effort forming a structured development
process that proceeds from concept to production to operation.
• Systems Engineering considers both the business and the technical
needs of all customers with the goal of providing a quality
product that meets the user needs

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 WHY HAS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING EMERGED
AS A DISTINCT DISCIPLINE?
• The term itself was not formally
used, nor was the importance of the
concepts recognized, until after
World War II.
• Complexity increased orders of
magnitude with the creation of
coupled mecho-digital systems,
especially in defense (P-51 Mustang
versus the Trident in 10 years)
• Creation of systems of systems, with
users, acquisition, training, service,
support, etc.
• Explosions = N!/2(N-2)!
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 EMERGENCE OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
ISSUES
• “The Mythical Man-month”, written by Fred Brooks, who was the first
manager of the OS/360 development team at IBM in the 1960's:
• People seem to think that people and time are interchangeable and substitutable
resources in projects
• Face it, the addition of people to a late project will only make it later
• In computer systems, the issue of decomposition and system management reared its
ugly head with optimistic programmers saying "This time it will surely run," or " I just
found the last bug."
• The false assumption is that things will take as long as they “ought to take” and things
will work as planned.
• Nothing works out as planned the first time - Systems Engineering attempts to mitigate
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this issue
THE ROLE OF THE SYSTEM ENGINEER
• Any engineer acts as a systems engineer when responsible for the design
and implementation of a total system.
• The difference with “traditional engineering” lies primarily in the greater
emphasis on defining goals, the creative generation of alternative designs,
the evaluation of alternative designs, and the coordination and control of
the diverse tasks that are necessary to create a complex system.
• The role of Systems Engineer is one of Manager that utilizes a structured
value delivery process

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 THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROCESS
• The major steps in the completion of a typical systems engineering project are
the following: (1) problem statement; (2) identification of objectives; (3)
generation of alternatives; (4) analysis of these alternatives; (5) selection of one
of them; (6) creation of the system, and, finally, (7) operation.
• Some examples of Systems Engineering Process activities are:
• Defining needs, operational concept, and requirements
• Functional analysis, decomposition, and allocation
• System modeling, systems analysis, and tradeoff studies
• Requirements allocation, traceability, and control
• Prototyping, Integration, and Verification
• System Engineering Product and Process control
• Configuration and Data Management
• Risk Management approaches
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• Engineering technical reviews and their purposes

 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING METHODOLOGIES

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 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING METHODOLOGIES

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MANAGING REQUIREMENTS

• Decomposition techniques create “chunks” that can be handled by design

teams and eventually individual designers

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 WHO SETS THE SE STANDARDS?

• Depends on your customer

(MIL-STD, IEEE STD, Ad Hoc)
• Individual private programs
can be managed in an ad-
hoc manner
• Government or large
corporate contracts may
require Mil spec or other
spec to ensure process
compliance
• INCOSE
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TOOLS
• Functional "thread" analysis involving use of stimulus-
condition-response threads for specifications, development,
testing, and reviews
• N-squared charts, QFD, Timeline analysis, and Functional Flow
Diagrams
• Activity Network Diagrams and professional quality project and
task schedules
• Object-oriented methodologies and distributed networked
IPDT’s
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USING SYSTEMS ENGINEERING METHODOLOGIES

• Some People think of SE tools and methodologies as solution

providers - plug in a bunch of “stuff” and get THE answer, design,
schedule, cost estimate, etc…this is wrong.
• Systems Engineering provides a means for discretizing systems
problems into chunks that can be solved, managed, and
implemented - the scheduling, costs, and interdisciplinary issues
are identified, but continuously change and emerge

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IS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING THE SOLUTION TO ALL OF
THE WORLD’S SYSTEMS PROBLEM?

NO...
... but it does help manage some of them

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THE SYSTEMS
PRAXIS
FRAMEWORK
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

• International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) web

pages (2001), http:\\[Link], October 2001.
• Brooks, F., ( 1995 ). The Mythical Man Month: Essays on
Software

• Grady, Jeffrey O. (1994). System Integration, CRC Press.

• QFD - Don Clausing
• Any new text on Systems Engineering ESD.83 30