It could be argued that models are the lifeblood of Systems Engineers. By abstracting the fundamental components of the project across domain boundaries, they allow the Systems Engineer to gain a unique insight into the interactions and issues within a project. By resolving context, key elements and relationships, expressed across a range of suitable views, the entire project life-cycle can be de-risked. Unfortunately, these views are often treated as little more than a collection of diagrams and even within the systems engineering community, the less experienced can be trapped into treating the various views as self-fulfilling activities.
It is possible to make a distinction between ‘modelling’ and ‘analysis’. The modelling techniques are tools to be used as a means to an end. The analysis works towards that end and provides useful support to the project and its decision making. The first step is therefore to check that all the Systems Engineers, especially those who are used to working within the reassuring structures of large projects, are aware of what their modelling effort is meant to achieve across the team and can communicate this to those around them. The analysis can then be built on solid teamwork and a shared understanding of the contributions everyone is making. Thereafter, designated members of the systems engineering team can carry the lion’s share of developing the model structure, ensuring diagram consistency and achieving coherency across all the modelling effort.
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| File | MIME type | Size (KB) | Language | Download | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Survival Guide for Systems Engineering - RINA Systems Engineering Conference - March 2012.pdf | application/pdf | 252.56 KB | English | DOWNLOAD! |
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Introduction
This paper hopes to help the Ship Designer, who has to lead a multi-disciplinary team, understand the contribution that a systems engineering approach can have within their project and how this approach can contribute to the three fundamental goals of simplicity, understanding and communication.