Introduction

Stakeholder measures of effectiveness could include, for example, measures of military capability, ease of use, maintainability... and programmatic measures such as investment cost, recurring cost, Australian Industry Involvement..., as applicable.

Systems engineering is NOT a rulebook. It IS a set of principles, supported by methods, to deliver maximum benefits to stakeholders.

This course is Project Performance International's popular 5-day public course in Systems Engineering. Since development in its original version in 1992, our Systems Engineering Training has been delivered to some 4500 delegates worldwide.

Who Should Attend This Systems Engineering Course?

This Systems Engineering course is designed for personnel who manage, perform, control or specify the development of small to large technology-based systems for exacting applications or to fixed budgets. The course will be of particular value to people with job titles such as:

Training Methods and Materials

The course is delivered using a mixture of formal presentation, informal discussion and extensive workshops which exercise key aspects of systems engineering on a single system through a development lifecycle. The result is a high degree of learning, as evidenced by workshop work products, and the extensive commendations received from participants.

The Systems Engineering training makes extensive use of workshops to put into practice the techniques covered in theory sessions.

You will be provided with:

• comprehensive Systems Engineering course notes containing presentation material
• a Workbook containing workshop exercises, with worked examples also distributed in most cases
• numerous supplementary descriptions, checklists, forms and charts which you can put to use immediately
• a two-CD Systems Engineering resource containing about 1GB of valuable information (handbooks, templates, guides, papers, reports, standards, etc).
• complimentary access to PPI's evolving Systems Engineering Goldmine, from which the CD-Rom is drawn

Systems Engineering Training Objective

This five day course addresses systems engineering as it is understood and practised by leading acquirer, developer and supplier organisations worldwide. Our Systems Engineering training provides an integrated approach to the set of management and technical disciplines which combine to optimise system effectiveness, enhance project success and reduce risk. Ways of achieving corporate objectives, eg. time to market, cost of goods sold, product quality, military objectives, is a constant theme throughout the course.

It is expected that, on completion of the course, participants will:

• understand the overall concepts which are characteristic of a systems approach to engineering
• understand the overall process elements, and their relationships, which collectively constitute the building blocks of systems engineering
• understand and be able to relate the roles of developer as supplier, developer as creator and developer as acquirer, and to place their own roles, and those of their customers (internal and external) and suppliers (internal and external) within this framework
• be able to perform the basics of some of the more important techniques of system requirements analysis, development of physical solution, development of logical solution, evaluation of solution alternatives (trade-off studies) and design iteration
• be familiar with the principles and major techniques of engineering management in a systems project context
• have some basic capability to tailor the application of the systems engineering principles and methods to different application scenarios; and
• be capable of extensive further learning in the field of systems engineering within a sound conceptual framework.

Systems Engineering Course Outline

0. Introduction - Why Systems Engineering?

1. The System Life Cycle and Solution Development

• defining the problem domain
• the solution domain: key concepts, relationships, and work products
• relationship between problem definition and stakeholder satisfaction
• waterfall, incremental, evolutionary and spiral developments
• concurrent engineering
• summary of key concepts

2. Systems Engineering in Context

• definitions of systems engineering from standards
• standards and guidelines - pitfalls and pointers
• ISO 9001, IEEE 1220, EIA/IS-632, EIA 632, J-STD-016, ISO/IEC 15288
• engineering handbooks, texts
• standards and guidelines for safety-critical systems

3. The Systems Engineering Process - Principles, Concepts and Elements

• workshop - SE principles
• systems concepts
• SE process
• requirements analysis
• development of physical solution description
• development of logical solution description
• effectiveness evaluation and decision
• description of system elements
• system integration
• verification and validation
• engineering management
• workshop - matching common activities to the basic SE elements
• work product attributes
• requirements traceability
• design traceability
• test traceability

4. Requirements Analysis

• what are requirements?
• types of requirements, and how they relate to analysis, specification & design
• requirements quality attributes
• requirements languages other than natural: operational, formal
• requirements analysis (RA) - how to do it
• workshop - context analysis
• workshop - design requirements analysis
• workshop - states and modes analysis
• workshop - parsing analysis
• requirements quality metrics
• workshop - functional analysis
• ERA analysis, rest-of scenario analysis, out-of-range analysis, other constraints search, stakeholder value analysis
• the Operational Concept Description (OCD)
• managing RA

5. Development of the System Physical Solution Description (Synthesis) - Part 1

• technology and innovation in solution development
• configuration items
• criteria for selecting configuration items

6. Development of the System Logical Solution

• types of logical representation
• functional analysis in design - how to do it
• functional analysis/architecture process
• workshop - a simple physical and logical design
• workshop - physical and logical design
• performance threads
• additional techniques for safety-critical systems
• SysML, UML V2.0
• n-squared charts, data flow diagrams, behavior modeling and other functional notations
• analysis and design software tools
• pitfalls in developing system functional solution

7. Development of the System Physical Solution Description (Synthesis) - Part 2

• use of design driver requirements
• the system physical architecture related to the functional architecture
• facilities, procedures and people
• the specification tree
• common pitfalls in developing system physical architecture
• adding the detail to design - additional design techniques beyond the basics
• additional techniques for safety-critical systems
• interface engineering
• common interfacing pitfalls
• object oriented design

8. Effectiveness Evaluation and Decision Making

• design meetings
• approach to design optimisation
• the role of MOEs and goals
• constructing a system effectiveness model
• designing utility functions
• taking account of risk
• iterative optimisation of design
• working with budgets, targets and ceilings
• value engineering
• workshop - developing a system effectiveness model
• workshop - performing a trade-off study
• multiple stakeholders, multiple uses, event-based uncertainty
• handling, in design, conflict of interest between customers and suppliers
• pitfalls in effectiveness evaluation and decision (avoiding the smoke and mirrors)

9. Description of System Elements - Requirements Specification Development

• the eight requirement specification types and their uses
• public specification standards - the good, the bad, and the ugly
• specification structure principles
• use of FFBDs to structure a requirements specification
• good and poor terminology
• recommended DIDs and templates
• optional workshop - evaluation of two requirements specifications
• pitfalls in preparing requirements specifications

10. Engineering Specialty Integration (ESI)

• what makes an engineering specialty special?
• common engineering specialties
• a generic approach to ESI
• organisational issues of ESI
• pitfalls, and specialty engineering examples

11. System Integration

• design interaction with hardware and software production
• integration planning
• integration
• integration testing
• using incremental builds
• configuration audits
• qualification
• pitfalls and pointers in system integration

12. Verification and Validation

• verification and validation terms defined
• technical reviews
• requirements reviews
• principles of design review
• architectural design review (ADR - PDR)
• detail design review (DDR - SDR, CDR)
• test readiness review (TRR)
• requirements satisfaction audits (FCAs)
• design description (BS-BS) audits (PCAs)
• technical reviews and incremental builds
• administration of technical reviews
• customer involvement in technical reviews
• pitfalls in conducting technical reviews
• test and evaluation
• other verification and validation methods and tools

13. Systems Engineering Management

13.1. Management Principles

• basic concepts
• organisation - functional, project, Integrated Product Teams

13.2. Engineering Planning

• scoping SE - the SEP (SEMP)?
• why prepare a SEP?
• how a SEP may relate to other plans
• content of the SEP
• how the SEP relates to ISO 9001
• pitfalls in preparing a SEP
• functional interfaces

13.3. Project Breakdown Structures

• types of PBS (WBS)
• why the PBS is a foundation of effective engineering management
• rules in preparing a PBS
• relationship of the PBS to cost accounts
• relationship of the PBS to work packages
• PBS (WBS) development pitfalls and pointers
• optional workshop - developing a PBS (WBS)

13.4. Configuration Management (CM)

• what is configuration?
• the concept and types of baseline
• CM standards - EIA, IEEE, etc
• the four fundamental CM activities
• pitfalls and pointers in CM

13.5. Technical Performance Measurement

13.6. Risk Management

• the nature of risk
• components of risk
• the five key activities of risk management

14. Summary

• systems engineering summarised
• tailoring to specific activities or projects
• getting the most out of systems engineering methods
• systems engineering capability assessment and improvement

About the Presenter - Mr. Robert Halligan, FIE Aust.

Robert Halligan is known internationally for his role in the practice and improvement of engineering projects. After early engineering, engineering management and project management roles within major public and private sector organisations, Robert has, for the last twenty-two years, contributed to major systems projects worldwide as a consultant and trainer. Robert has worked in this capacity extensively in Europe, the United States, Asia, South America, South Africa and Australia for some of the best known and most successful global technology-based companies and government enterprises. He has also worked extensively with start-up companies and SMEs.

Robert lead the development and delivery of the Masters module "Managing Engineering Projects" for the Australian Graduate School of Engineering Innovation, a joint venture between two Australian Universities. Robert is a Past President of the Systems Engineering Society of Australia. He was an Australian delegate to the ISO WG7 developing the international system life cycle processes standard, ISO/IEC 12258, and for three years lead the delegation of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) to ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 on software and systems engineering. Robert was a key reviewer of EIA 632 (Engineering of Systems) and EIA 731 (Systems Engineering Capability Model). He was a contributor of content to EIA/IS 632 and its successor in the area of requirements quality, and to IEEE 1220 in the area of functional analysis. Robert has served as Director (International) of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). He is an INCOSE Ambassador, and an Honorary Member of the Korean Council on Systems Engineering.

View Full Robert Halligan Biography

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