This book provides a basic but complete coverage of the management of complex technical projects and, in particular, of the discipline known as systems engineering through which that management is conducted. We offer a framework encapsulating the entire systems engineering discipline, clearly showing where the multitude of systems engineering activities fits within the overall effort. The framework provides an ideal vehicle for understanding the complex discipline of systems engineering.
We take a top-down approach that introduces the philosophical aspects of the discipline and provides a framework within which the reader can assimilate the associated activities. Without such a reference, the practitioner is left to ponder the plethora of terms, standards and practices that have been developed independently and often lack cohesion, particularly in nomenclature and emphasis. The field of systems engineering is often viewed as dry, detailed, complicated, acronym-intensive and uninteresting. Yet, the discipline holds the solution to delivering complex systems on time and within budget, and avoiding many of the failures of the past. The intention of this book is both to cover all aspects of the discipline and to provide a framework for the consideration of the many issues associated with engineering complex systems.
Our secondary purpose is to describe a complex field in a simple, easily digested manner that is accessible to a wide spectrum of readers, from students to professionals, from novices to experienced practitioners. It is directed at a wide audience and aims to be a valuable reference for all professions associated with the management of complex technical projects: project managers, systems engineers, quality assurance representatives, integrated logistic support practitioners, maintainers, and so on.
In line with the top-down approach of systems engineering, we focus in this book on the early stages of the system life cycle since the activities in these stages have the greatest impact on the successful acquisition and fielding of a system. In the interests of balance, however, we use the systems engineering framework to provide an overview of all other aspects related to systems engineering.
This applied systems engineering book is used as a text for a number of professional education and university courses, as well as for a number of in-house courses. In particular, it is complimentary to attendees on the edVirtus Systems Engineering--Introduction and Systems Engineering--Advanced training courses delivered by the authors Dr Ian Faulconbridge and Dr Mike Ryan. The text also supports the Coursera Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Introduction to Systems Engineering.
Preface
The need to manage complexity is now commonplace in almost all fields of undertaking. Complex systems such as cars, aeroplanes, airports, financial systems, and communications networks commonly involve millions of hours of work by thousands of people from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds spread across a number of companies in a number of countries. Projects often take decades and involve a large number of disparate stakeholders, developers, operators and customers. At the same time, the need to accommodate changes in the market place has created considerable pressure on traditional engineering processes. It is little wonder therefore that we have become used to hearing of the difficulties associated with complex projects—cost and schedule overruns, dramatic failures to achieve requirements, project cancellations, and so on.
These problems cannot be solved by simply ensuring that each of the associated disciplines pays more attention to their individual professions. Complex technical projects can only be managed effectively by addressing the whole life cycle. First, requirements must be defined formally to provide a comprehensive description of the functionality of the system to be procured—a functional architecture. These functional requirements are analyzed and elaborated to create a functional description of subsystem requirements, which are then allocated to physical configuration items to provide a physical architecture of the system. The aim of developing the physical configuration items is to reduce the complex system to a series of well-defined subsystems that can be designed and then built by manageable teams using extant processes and procedures. The subsequent development of these separate subsystems must be managed, however, so that they are verified, tested and integrated into the final system to be delivered. To be successful, the entire process must be planned, documented, and managed.
This book provides a basic but complete coverage of the discipline known as systems engineering. We offer a framework encapsulating the entire systems engineering discipline, clearly showing where the multitude of associated activities fits within the overall effort, providing an ideal vehicle for understanding the complex discipline.
We take a top-down approach that introduces the philosophical aspects of the discipline and provides a framework within which the reader can assimilate the associated activities. Without such a reference, the practitioner is left to ponder the plethora of terms, standards and practices that have been developed independently and often lack cohesion, particularly in nomenclature and emphasis. The field of systems engineering is often viewed as dry, detailed, complicated, acronym-intensive, and uninteresting. Yet, the discipline holds the solution to delivering complex technical projects on time and within budget, and avoiding many of the failures of the past. The intention of this book is both to cover all aspects of the discipline and to provide a framework for the consideration of the many issues associated with engineering complex systems.
Our secondary purpose is to describe a complex field in a simple, easily-digested manner that is accessible to a wide spectrum of readers, from students to professionals, from novices to experienced practitioners. It is directed at a wide audience and aims to be a valuable reference for all professions associated with the management of complex technical projects: project managers, systems engineers, quality assurance representatives, integrated logistic support practitioners, maintainers, and so on.
Chapter 1 introduces systems engineering and related issues and Chapter 2 provides the framework within which the remainder of the book is written. Chapters 3 and 4 examine in more detail the issues associated with Conceptual Design and Preliminary Design. Emphasis is given to these early activities, as they have the greatest impact on the system development. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 deal with respectively Detailed Design and Development, Construction and/or Production, and Operational Use and Support. Chapter 8 deals with the broad topic of systems engineering management and details some of the associated activities. Some of the more common and popular systems engineering standards are introduced in Chapter 9 and their application to engineering management and process is explained. Chapter 10 explains the interrelationship between the systems engineering effort and other closely related disciplines such as project management, quality management and integrated logistics support management. Finally, Chapter 11 discusses the relationship between systems engineering methodologies and a number of acquisition methods.
Systems engineering is a broad discipline, and its application to different projects always requires individual and independent thought. There is never a single solution that will work with all projects, and there is rarely a solution that is either completely right or wrong. This book aims to introduce the main systems engineering issues to the reader to facilitate some of that individual and independent thought.
Ian Faulconbridge
Mike Ryan
Canberra, 2021
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
