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Systems
Engineering Management |
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Applying
systems engineering to realize a system over its lifecycle
involves a succession of decisions among various courses
of action. Thus, one aspect of systems engineering is
the pursuit of the definition and understanding of design
alternatives to support those decisions, coupled with
oversight of their implementation.
Another goal of systems engineering is to ensure that
the many diverse elements comprising a system are compatible
and ready when needed. You can think of the systems engineering
effort as a flow of input, process, and output activities.
The inputs are the needs and constraints provided by your
customer. The process flow is the managing of technical
activities to establish and maintain a balance among system
effectiveness, schedule, and cost. The output is a definition
of the system elements, leading to implementation of the
system.
One way of representing the systems engineering design
and development process is the "vee" model; depicted here
is a modified version of the model developed by Forsberg
and Mooz. The left side of the "vee" depicts the pursuit
of the definition and understanding of system requirements
and specifications at the beginning of the system's lifecycle,
the consideration of design alternatives, and selection
of a design. These specifications are handed off to the
design and other specialty engineers in the middle of
the lifecycle, at the base of the "vee." After the individual
physical components or processes are developed, responsibility
passes back to the systems engineer who integrates and
tests the system - the right side of the "vee." So, time
proceeds from left to right in the "vee" model.
Systems Engineering Management
The project manager concentrates on managing the overall
project lifecycle. This function involves responsibility
for a myriad of activities such as cost and schedule,
manufacturing, procurement, subcontractor management,
discipline engineering, systems engineering, test and
verification, etc. The systems engineering manager is
responsible to the project manager and concentrates on
managing the technical aspects of the project. This management
function is responsible for the integration and oversight
of the technical functions (mechanical, electrical, materials,
etc.), and disciplines (engineering, testing, requirements
establishment and verification, etc.) that support implementation
of the product design. In this role, systems engineering
provides project management with the status of these technical
functions in terms of meeting design requirements and
performing the work within budget and schedule constraints. |
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