Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management

Howard Eisner

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470129333
• eBook ISBN: 9781118276341
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The Third Edition of Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management enables readers to manage the design, development, and engineering of systems effectively and efficiently. The book both defines and describes the essentials of project and systems engineering management and, moreover, shows the critical relationship and interconnection between project management and systems engineering. The author's comprehensive presentation has proven successful in enabling both engineers and project managers to understand their roles, collaborate, and quickly grasp and apply all the basic principles.
Readers familiar with the previous two critically acclaimed editions will find much new material in this latest edition, including:

• Multiple views of and approaches to architectures
• The systems engineer and software engineering
• The acquisition of systems
• Problems with systems, software, and requirements
• Group processes and decision making
• System complexity and integration

Throughout the presentation, clear examples help readers understand how concepts have been put into practice in real-world situations.

With its unique integration of project management and systems engineering, this book helps both engineers and project managers across a broad range of industries successfully develop and manage a project team that, in turn, builds successful systems. For engineering and management students in such disciplines as technology management, systems engineering, and industrial engineering, the book provides excellent preparation for moving from the classroom to industry.

PART I: OVERVIEW

1

SYSTEMS, PROJECTS, AND MANAGEMENT

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This is a book about management, with emphasis on managing the design, development, and engineering of systems. It addresses two primary questions:

1. What does the Project Manager (PM) need to know?

2. What does the Chief Systems Engineer (CSE) need to know?

The focus is therefore on the essentials of what the PM and CSE must master in order to be successful in building various types of systems and managing project teams.

This chapter is largely introductory, dealing with the preliminary definitions of systems and projects, problems encountered in building systems, the systems approach, key managerial responsibilities, and organizational matters that significantly impact the way in which systems are planned, designed, and constructed.

1.2 SYSTEMS AND PROJECTS

There are many definitions of systems, one of which is simply that “a system is any process that converts inputs to outputs” [1.1]. We look here at systems by example and, for that purpose, start by examining a radar system. This is certainly a system, performing the functions of search and tracking of objects in space, as in an air route or surveillance radar at or near an airport. A system normally has functions that it carries out (such as search and tracking), and it does so by means of its subsystems. At the same time, such airport radar systems, together with other systems (such as communications and landing systems), are part of a larger system known as an air traffic control (ATC) system. Examined from the perspective of an air traffic control system, the radar systems actually serve as subsystems of the larger system. In the same vein, the air traffic control system may be regarded as a subsystem of a larger national aviation system (NAS) that consists also of airports, air vehicles, and other relatively large systems (e.g., access/egress) in their own right.

Our view of systems, therefore, is rather broad. In the preceding context, the radars, air traffic control, and national aviation system are all systems. Such systems normally are composed of hardware, software, and human elements, all of which must interoperate efficiently for the overall system to be effective. We adopt this broad perspective in the definition of systems, drawing on examples that affect our everyday life, such as automobile systems, telephone systems, computer systems, heating and cooling systems, transit systems, and information systems.

Projects are formal enterprises that address the matter of designing and developing the various systems just cited. A project is an assemblage of people and equipment, and it is normally managed by a Project Manager (PM). Project personnel work toward satisfying a set of goals, objectives, and requirements, as set forth by a customer. Projects may also have a limited scope of work, dealing only with, for example, the design phase of a system, rather than its construction or entire life cycle. The success of a system is dependent on the skills of the people on a project and how well they are able to work together. Ultimately, the success, or lack of it, is attributed to the many skills that the PM is able to bring to bear in what is often an extremely complex situation and endeavor. The PM, in short, must not only have considerable technical skills, but must also have a deep understanding of the fine art of management.

1.2.1 Definitions of Systems Engineering

The Chief Systems Engineer (CSE) normally reports to the Project Manager and focuses upon building the system in question. The overall process that the CSE employs is known as Systems Engineering, a central theme in this text. We will define Systems Engineering in terms of increasing complexity and detail in various parts of this book, starting here with five relatively simple expressions, namely:

1. As developed by the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)

2. As articulated by the Department of Defense (DoD)

3. As represented in an earlier text by this author

4. As summarized by the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC)

5. As viewed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The INCOSE definition is that Systems Engineering is [1.2]:

An interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems.

This definition is rather sparse and emphasizes three aspects: “interdisciplinary,” “realization,” and “successful.” Especially for large-scale systems, it is clearly necessary to employ several disciplines (e.g., human engineering, physics, software engineering, and management). Realization simply confirms the fact that systems engineering processes lead to the physical construction of a real-life system (i.e., it goes beyond the formulation of an idea or concept). Finally, our expectation is that by utilizing the various disciplines of systems engineering, the outcome will be a successful system, although this result is certainly not guaranteed.

A definition provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), a strong supporter as well as user of systems engineering as a critical discipline, is that Systems Engineering [1.3]:

Involves design and management of a total system which includes hardware and software, as well as other system life-cycle elements. The systems engineering process is a structured, disciplined, and documented technical effort through which systems products and processes are simultaneously denned, developed and integrated. Systems Engineering is most effectively implemented as part of an overall integrated product and process development effort using multidisiplinary teamwork.

Key words from this definition include: “design and management,” “hardware and software,” “structured, disciplined and documented,” and “overall integrated” effort that involves “multidisciplinary teamwork.” These important notions will be reiterated and expanded upon in later parts of this book.

A third definition, formulated by this author, is that Systems Engineering is an [1.4]:

Iterative process of top-down synthesis, development, and operation of a real-world system that satisfies, in a near-optimal manner, the full range of requirements for the system.

Here, key ideas have to do with “iterative,” “synthesis,” “operation,” “near-optimal,” and “satisfies the system requirements.” Designing and building a system usually involves several loops of iteration, for example, from synthesis to analysis, from concept to development, and from architecting to d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• PREFACE
• PART I: OVERVIEW
• PART II: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• PART III: SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
• PART IV: TRENDS, PERSPECTIVES, AND INTEGRATIVE MANAGEMENT
• APPENDIX: SYSTEMS ARCHITECTING—CASES
• Index