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Book : Systems Engineering: Coping With Complexity (1998)

Summary

From the publisher:

In an age of shrinking development cycles, it is harder than ever to bring the right product to the market at the right time. Good product - especially complex products - are underpinned by good systems, and systems engineering itself is recognized as the key tool of product development.

This book covers the principles of systems engineering in an easy-to-read format.

The authors have decades of practical industrial experience, and the material is ideal for industrial project teams. For academic courses, the book acts as a component for graduate and undergraduate engineering studies, particularly those on systems engineering.

It covers how to handle requirements, architectural design, integration and verification, starting from the perspective of a simple linear lifecycle. The book then gradually introduces recent work on the complexity of real-world systems, with issues such as multi-level systems development, software within systems, and iterative development. There is also coverage of the impact of systems engineering at the organizational level.

Content / Structure

1 Introduction

• 1.1 The Importance of Systems Engineering
• 1.2 What is Systems Engineering?
• 1.3 Management and Systems Engineering
• 1.4 The Systems Life Cycle
• 1.5 Requirements Through the Life Cycle
• 1.6 Structure of the Book
• 1.7 Summary

2 The User Requirement Process

• 2.1 Objectives for User Requirements
• 2.2 User and System Requirements
• 2.3 The Environment
• 2.4 Business Requirements
• 2.5 Sources of User Requirements
• 2.6 Organizing the Requirements
• 2.7 Constraints
• 2.8 Attributes for User Requirements
• 2.9 The User Requirements Document
• 2.10 Reviewing the User Requirements
• 2.11 Success Factors
• 2.12 Summary of User Requirements

3 The System Requirements Process

• 3.1 Defining the Solution in Abstract
• 3.2 The System requirements Process
• 3.3 Different Kinds of Requirements
• 3.4 Abstract Definition
• 3.5 External Systems
• 3.6 Temporal and Dynamic Behavior
• 3.7 Non-functional Requirements
• 3.8 The Framework for System Requirements
• 3.9 Concepts Used for Representing System Requirements
• 3.10 Object-Orientation
• 3.11 Heuristics for Breaking Down Functions
• 3.12 Success Factors
• 3.13 Outputs from System Requirements
• 3.14 Summary of System Requirements

4 The Architectural Design Process

• 4.1 The Objectives
• 4.2 Good Design Practice
• 4.3 What is an Architectural Design?
• 4.4 Behavior and Style
• 4.5 Architecture Requirements
• 4.6 Re-use of Existing Components
• 4.7 How to do Architectural Design
• 4.8 Creating a Behavioral Model
• 4.9 Layout
• 4.10 Creating an Equipment Design Model
• 4.11 Design Trade-offs
• 4.12 Concurrent Engineering in Design
• 4.13 Verification Work Before Testing
• 4.14 Outputs from Architecture
• 4.15 Summary of Architectural Design

5 From Integration to Operations

• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 Integration and Verification
• 5.3 Building the Verification System
• 5.4 Installation and Validation
• 5.5 Alpha and Beta-tests
• 5.6 Project History
• 5.7 Summary

6 Project Management and Systems Engineering

• 6.1 Introduction
• 6.2 Project Management Tasks
• 6.3 Configuration Management
• 6.4 Verification and Validation
• 6.5 Quality Assurance
• 6.6 Decisions and Risks
• 6.7 Summary

7 Tailoring the Simple Life Cycle

• 7.1 The Reasons for Tailoring the Process
• 7.2 The Sequential Life Cycle
• 7.3 Different Kinds of Tailored Development
• 7.4 Incremental Development
• 7.5 Evolutionary Life Cycle
• 7.6 Rapid Application Development
• 7.7 Framework Architecture
• 7.8 Competetive Piloting
• 7.9 Design to Cost
• 7.10 Re-engineering Existing Systems
• 7.11 Smaller Systems
• 7.12 Summary on Tailored Development

8 More Realistic Development Life Cycles

• 8.1 The Need for a More Realistic Development Approach
• 8.2 Three Different Processes
• 8.3 Process Products and Additional Flows
• 8.4 Feedback Before Commitment
• 8.5 Multiple Levels of System Development
• 8.6 Change in Complex Systems
• 8.7 A Generic System Development Process
• 8.8 Consequences of a More Realistic Approach
• 8.9 Summary

9 Management in Multi-Level Projects

• 9.1 Introduction
• 9.2 The 'Enterprise'
• 9.3 Customer-supplier Relationships
• 9.4 Delegation and Escalation
• 9.5 Program Engineering and Product Engineering
• 9.6 Different Kinds of Acquisition
• 9.7 Summary

10 Software and Systems

• 10.1 The Information Economy
• 10.2 Software and Market Leadership
• 10.3 Problems of Software in Systems
• 10.4 Software Shaped Systems
• 10.5 The Software Engineering Process
• 10.6 Differences Between Systems and Software
• 10.7 The User Interface
• 10.8 Summary About Software and Systems

11 Prototyping

• 11.1 Prototyping in Various Guises
• 11.2 Modelling and Simulation
• 11.3 Summary on Prototyping

12 Information Modelling

• 12.1 A Project as an Information System
• 12.2 Defining an Information Model
• 12.3 Example Applications
• 12.4 Traceability
• 12.5 Plans as Information Models
• 12.6 Summary

13 Projects and the Enterprise

• 13.1 Introduction
• 13.2 Managing Through Stages
• 13.3 Stage-gate Management
• 13.4 The Product manager Role
• 13.5 The Organizational Process
• 13.6 Metrics for the Development Process
• 13.7 Technology Management
• 13.8 Multiple Operating Systems
• 13.9 Summary

14 Improving the Systems Engineering Processes

• 14.1 Agents for Chage
• 14.2 Success Factors for Process Improvement
• 14.3 Likely Causes of Failure
• 14.4 Making the Business Case
• 14.5 An Example of Costs and Benefits
• 14.6 Business Experience
• 14.7 Summary

15 Summary

• 15.1 Concepts of Systems Engineering
• 15.2 Wider Scope of Systems Engineering
• 15.3 User-driven System Processes
• 15.4 Realistic System Processes
• 15.5 Becoming a Good Customer
• 15.6 Systems Engineering and the Business
• 15.7 Future System Life Cycle Processes
• 15.8 Conclusions

Appendices

Copyright Prentice Hall Europe 1998

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