Systems Engineering For Dummies Ibm Limited Systems Engineering For Dummies
Systems Engineering For Dummies Ibm Limited Systems Engineering For Dummies
Systems Engineering For Dummies Ibm Limited Systems Engineering For Dummies
Engineering
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
Cathleen Shamieh
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Systems Engineering For Dummies,® IBM Limited Edition
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
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Introduction
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2 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 1
Generating Smarter
Products
In This Chapter
▶ Dealing with the demand for intelligent, interconnected systems
▶ Recognizing challenges on the road to success
▶ Shifting gears to encompass a broader landscape
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4 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 1: Generating Smarter Products 5
Blending technological ingredients
Today’s smarter products and services are the result of the
convergence of manufacturing, electronics, and information
technologies. Quick-thinking manufacturers realized that they
could take advantage of the tremendous advances in microelec-
tronics, software, mechanical devices, sensors, and actuators
to create products that would wow their customers — and
wallop their competitors. So they grabbed a little bit o’ this and
a little bit o’ that, mixed it all together (with some help from
their engineering friends), and — voilà— cooked up products
that even George Jetson would find innovative!
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6 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 1: Generating Smarter Products 7
the more opportunity there is for everyone. The population
is quickly evolving toward an “Internet of things” — a global
ecosystem of smart, connected products and services.
Catering to Customers
A sizable chunk of the world’s population consists of experi-
enced users of smart products.
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8 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
System of Systems
Integration of mechanical,
electronic, software, and
electrical engineering
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Chapter 1: Generating Smarter Products 9
Often, the most valuable features of a smart product aren’t
contained entirely within that product itself but are delivered
as a result of interactions with other products or services
within an ecosystem. Just like people, smart products need to
collaborate and share information!
Just because you can share data doesn’t mean you should!
Privacy, security, and regulations (among other things) may
have major impacts on your design!
✓ Mastering multiple capabilities: You need expertise in
multiple technical fields, including manufacturing, elec-
tronics, mechanical engineering, and software engineering.
While most companies are strong in one or two of these
areas, this expertise is rare to find all under one roof.
Becoming a world-class software house: If you’re a prod-
✓
uct manufacturer who considers software a necessary
evil, you’d better start going to hypnosis, because most
of the “smarts” in smart products come from software —
and it doesn’t code itself (not yet, anyway).
Integrating hardware and software development
✓
efforts: As software-driven functionalities take center
stage, you have to get your hardware and software teams
to really work together — not just throw finished mod-
ules over the wall for integration and testing.
Effectively managing distributed teams: If your develop-
✓
ment teams are located in different cities, time zones, and/
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10 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Mistakes you may think are small and easy to fix in a stand-
alone product are often magnified and distributed throughout
an interconnected system design. A software bug can wreak
havoc if you don’t catch it early on in the development process,
increasing your costs and causing your schedule to slip. With
the amount of software in devices doubling every two years, it’s
easy to understand why 66 percent of device software designs
are completed over budget, and 24 percent of large projects are
canceled due to unrecoverable schedule slippages.
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Chapter 1: Generating Smarter Products 11
If you’re unable to develop complex products in a shorter
cycle without compromising quality, you stand to lose rev-
enue and tarnish your brand. Yet, smart, interconnected
products often have hundreds — even thousands — of unique
requirements, making it difficult to imagine how you can pos-
sibly maintain quality while shrinking development cycles.
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12 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Planning
Requirements
Analysis
Requirements
Design
CAD design
BOM
Development
Integration
and Test
Implementation
Operations
and
Maintenance
Figure 1-2: Sequential product development.
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Chapter 2
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14 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
In this chapter, you find out what exactly what systems engi-
neering is, how it can help you manage complexity, and how it
can help you develop smarter products — and innovate your
way to the top.
Not to worry, though. While some PhDs may get hot under the
collar about the finer details and scope of systems engineering,
most experts agree on its foundation. In this section, you take a
look at what that foundation is — and how to build on it.
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Chapter 2: Taming the Tiger with Systems Engineering 15
Systems Engineering
Practice
cross-discipline analysis, systems-of-systems modeling
System
concept, design, creation, operation
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16 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 2: Taming the Tiger with Systems Engineering 17
Over the past 20 or so years, experts in complex system
design have developed and refined what’s known as the
V-model of the systems engineering process (see Figure 2-2).
The V-model is a graphical representation of a series of steps
and procedures for developing complex systems.
n
itio
fini
pos
tion
om
Verifying the Subsystems
High-Level Subsystem
and
Rec
Design Testing
De
and
com
tion
Verifying the
pos
Units/Devices
gra
Detailed Unit/Device
itio
Inte
Design Testing
n
Software/Hardware
Development
Implementation
Tracing the “V” from left to right, you execute the systems
engineering process in a series of steps, as follows:
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18 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
By linking all the steps on the left side of the “V” through
requirements and referring back to these requirements as you
work your way up the right side of the “V,” you’re much more
likely to stay true to your original mission and maintain objec-
tivity throughout the process. These linkages provide for
what’s known in systems engineering as traceability. Chapter 3
covers requirements and traceability in detail.
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Chapter 2: Taming the Tiger with Systems Engineering 19
Managing Complexity
with Models
Some models are useful, especially when you’re working on
a complex engineering project. If you can develop relatively
inexpensive ways of designing, testing, and verifying your
system before you go and build it, you can save yourself a
lot of time and money — maybe even your job! One way to
do this is to use models to design and refine your system
throughout the development process.
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20 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 2: Taming the Tiger with Systems Engineering 21
Language (UML), SysML is the defacto standard language for
modeling systems and systems-of-systems.
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22 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Driver
Car
Global
Positioning
System
Home
Security
System
Figure 2-3: A simple context diagram for a car.
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Chapter 3
Revolutionizing
Requirements
In This Chapter
▶ Acknowledging that change is good
▶ Covering all the requirements bases by including use cases
▶ Cascading requirements through the development process
▶ Analyzing the impacts of change
▶ Getting a grip (on requirements management)
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24 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Embracing a Philosophy
of Change
In this new age of smarter products, you have to be able to
respond quickly to market dynamics, such as changing cus-
tomer needs, new competitive threats, or the latest regula-
tory standard. Product developers have also noticed over the
years that requirements should change as your understanding
of the need gets better through the development process. To
the traditional system development process, however, change
is the enemy. So what should you do?
Understanding Context
Before you begin to establish an initial set of requirements
for a smart product or system, it pays to take some time to
think about the problem your product is trying to solve. For
instance, if you set out to build a car, it’s critical that you
understand exactly how it will be used and by whom. Will
the car be used for city driving, highway driving, or racetrack
driving? Does the target market consist primarily of elderly
drivers, young men, or stay-at-home parents? Will the car be
subject to harsh conditions, such as severe cold, salted roads,
extreme heat, mountainous terrain, or high altitudes?
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Chapter 3: Revolutionizing Requirements 25
environment) with which the system interacts, and how inter-
actions between the system and its actors take place.
Driver Winter
Environment
Car
Home Global
Security Positioning
System System
Figure 3-1: The context of a system delineates boundaries and specifies
interfaces.
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26 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Compare the context diagram for the car (see Figure 3-1)
with the context diagram for the car’s built-in navigation
subsystem (see Figure 3-2). At the system level, the car is
the black box that interacts with external actors. At the sub-
system level, the navigation subsystem is the black box, and
it interacts with a different set of actors: the driver, the car’s
electrical subsystem, and the GPS system.
Driver
Navigation
Subsystem Global
Positioning
System
Electrical
Subsystem
Figure 3-2: Context changes as you explore different levels within the
system.
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Chapter 3: Revolutionizing Requirements 27
describe how it operates within the cellular carrier’s
communication infrastructure.
System/Subsystem Requirements. These are the require-
✓
ments that define what the system must be able to do.
They start at a high systems level and are analyzed and
decomposed to produce requirements for lower level
subsystems. They may be expressed in common “shall”
statements or in more advanced forms such as models
and diagrams.
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28 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
To make sure you’ve covered all the bases, you develop use
cases that describe all the possible ways the system’s functions
could be used. For instance, the function “map route” in your
navigation system can be used to “find the nearest gas station”
or “show me the hotels in the vicinity of my destination.” Use
cases are generally composed of sequences of one or more
system functions. Use cases tell concrete stories of system
usage and can be used in all three requirements tiers — source,
mission/business and system/subsystem.
MiniVan
Specification
RefinedBy
Use cases
Accelerate
Requirement: Requirement:
EcoFriendly Performance
Requirement:
Power
Requirement:
Requirement: Requirement: Requirement: derived
Emissions Reqt
Meets ultralow Fuel Efficiency Braking Acceleration
emission standard
Verified by
Test case Satisfied by
MaxAcceleration Power
Subsystem
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Chapter 3: Revolutionizing Requirements 29
As you drill down into the depths of your design, you satisfy
the requirements developed in the previous (higher) design
level, and derive requirements to be used by corresponding
test level as well as the next (lower) design level.
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30 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 3: Revolutionizing Requirements 31
If you overlook a requirement, you may run into real prob-
lems. For instance, you can design the most phenomenal
automobile cup holder in the world, but if you locate it
just below the car stereo — so your grande latte blocks the
controls — because you failed to relate an “allow ample
clearance” requirement to your design, you’ll miss the mark.
Mistakes like this can really cost you.
Juggling Requirements
and Designs
For the airplane collision avoidance example in the previ-
ous section, say you select the “transponder system” design
option. This semi-automated option involves air traffic control
monitoring transponder signals from aircraft in the area. Your
design choice triggers sub-requirements for a transponder
subsystem design and a subsystem test plan.
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32 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
You wonder what went wrong, and then you realize that your
algorithm was optimized for point-to-point route calculations,
but not for finding targets within a range. And although your
system test plan did test the functionality of the system, it did
not test all use cases (or maybe someone forgot to write that
use case).
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Chapter 3: Revolutionizing Requirements 33
Requirements traceability is the ability to link every require-
ment to three related items:
✓
The stakeholder needs (source requirements) that it
fulfills
The system elements that implement or realize it
✓
The test case that verifies it
✓
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34 System Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 4
In this chapter, you explore how you can use system models
to manage complexity as well as abstract essential relation-
ships within a system and test inexpensively before you build.
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36 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Minivan
Structure
Anti-lock
Braking Chassis
System (ABS)
Anti-Lock Hub
Rotor Tire
Controller Assembly
Traction Brake
Sensor
Detector Modulator
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Chapter 4: Getting Abstract with System Modeling 37
Structural models, like the simplified architectural model
shown in Figure 4-1, capture the hierarchical structure of the
system architecture and illustrate connections between ele-
ments of the model.
Sensor
Traction
Detector
Brake
Modulator
Anti-Lock Controller
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38 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 4: Getting Abstract with System Modeling 39
Off
start stop
engine engine
Operate
Idling
engage
when speed = 0
accelerator
release brake
Accelerating Braking
engage brake
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40 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 4: Getting Abstract with System Modeling 41
or what the system uses. This is best done in specific,
step-by-step, narrative-like stories of system usage, such
as use cases, and illustrated as SysML activity diagrams.
Refine your system requirements, and make them spe-
cific and complete (remember, source requirements can
leave out a lot of important stuff). The same usage sce-
narios become the basis for system testing later — based
on what you’ve learned from this usage analysis.
Realization: Define structure (architecture) and behavior
✓
(function) models that together describe how each usage
is achieved by the system through collaboration among
elements within the system architecture. Required behav-
ior is realized (made real) in the elements of the system.
Now, this is quite different from the traditional design pro-
cess of allocating requirements to physical components
and then hoping that it will work in actual usage. Here,
usage is defined explicitly and then you design the system
based on these specific usages, so you know the system is
designed to meet usage requirements.
Execution: Execute the behavior models to demonstrate
✓
that your design satisfies the requirements. Simple, execut-
able models, even at high levels of abstraction are a great
and cost-saving way to discover tricky problems, miscom-
munications, missing or ambiguous requirements, and
other schedule-busting issues early on. They get everyone
on the same page before anything is actually built.
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42 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 5
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44 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Unit testing
Testing at the lowest system level is tightly coupled with the
implementation of your design. You test each hardware or
software component, fix defects, and redo your implementa-
tion. For software, this may involve several iterative cycles
of coding, testing, and recoding until you’ve thoroughly
debugged the software.
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Chapter 5: Ensuring Tip-Top Quality 45
Make sure your Unit Verification Plan thoroughly documents
the specific test cases and results for each component and
that you use a traceability matrix to tie these tests back to
the specific requirements they verify. This ensures that if the
tests all pass, the system satisfies all the requirements.
Subsystem integration
and verification
Fully-verified hardware and software components are ready
to be integrated into modules or subsystems. If you’ve tested
out the interfaces first, this should proceed fairly smoothly.
System testing
Through progressive iteration, you integrate, test, and verify
subsystems until you reach the system level (see Figure 5-1).
Each iteration consists of careful, thorough testing — with
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46 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
fully-tested sub-
components subsystems
Integration
verified subsystems
subsystems
Verification
verified
system
If all goes well, you’ll have a verified system that you can dem-
onstrate to stakeholders. You’re able to prove that all system
requirements have been satisfied, confirming that the system
was built correctly.
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Chapter 5: Ensuring Tip-Top Quality 47
designed and implemented perfectly, satisfying all the require-
ments and then some, but if it doesn’t fulfill its intended use,
it’s bound to be a flop.
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48 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
You test the individual components and verify that the RSW
system works as designed within the operating range of the
sensor. Then you integrate the RSW, the windshield, and other
subsystems into a car. When you test the operation of the RSW
in the context of the entire system, lo and behold, it fails.
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Chapter 5: Ensuring Tip-Top Quality 49
$7,600/defect
After product
release
$960/defect
During the
QA/testing phase
$240/defect
So, what can you do about it? Systems engineers have devised
two main approaches to minimizing this risk:
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50 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 6
Multiply the size of the team by a factor of oh, say, 100, give
them a wish list of 700ish requirements, tell them they have
six months to build the product — and you can kiss your job
(and all party invitations) goodbye.
How can you capture the magic that exists for small develop-
ment teams and adapt it for large development teams? This
chapter will show you how.
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52 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Getting Everyone on
the Same Page
It takes a heck of a lot more than just brilliant engineering
to create a smart product that is successful in the market-
place. Research shows that a third of all produced devices
do not meet performance or functionality requirements,
and that 24 percent of all projects are canceled due to
unrecoverable schedule delays. Many times, the reason for
a catastrophic system failure is not related to the system’s
engineering design; rather, it is due to failures of knowledge
or communication.
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Chapter 6: Enabling Large Teams to Collaborate and Manage Changes 53
Poor communication can cause many problems, including:
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54 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 6: Enabling Large Teams to Collaborate and Manage Changes 55
it’s not enough. If one member of a development team makes a
change (for instance, to a requirement or a system model), and
it is not communicated immediately to the rest of the team, the
result is chaos.
Tracking changes
When engineering a system, critical information is constantly
changing — by design. Systems engineering involves (among
other things) iterative design and test processes: You design
your system, develop models, test the models, redesign to fix
defects, and so forth. So you’re constantly updating models,
test results, and other information. Requirements can change,
too, as market and business needs evolve.
Communicating changes
The traditional method of creating a few dozen critical docu-
ments and exchanging information via email just doesn’t work
well in the complex development environments of today.
With the number of requirements for complex systems in the
hundreds, or even thousands, relying on e-mail exchange only
results in chaos and confusion.
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56 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Development priorities
✓
Project approvals
✓
Schedules
✓
Employee roles and responsibilities
✓
Requirements
✓
Change requests
✓
Conceptual models
✓
Use cases
✓
Test plans
✓
Defects
✓
Critical issues
✓
Traceability data
✓
Budget information
✓
Procurement information
✓
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Chapter 6: Enabling Large Teams to Collaborate and Manage Changes 57
Repository
Publishing Requirements
System
Reqmts
Data
Models
Models Driver
Car
Global
Positioning
System
Home
Security
System
Templates
Tests Test results
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58 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 6: Enabling Large Teams to Collaborate and Manage Changes 59
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60 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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Chapter 7
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62 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 7: Ten Ways to Win with Systems Engineering 63
Engineering a Flexible
Business Model
If you’re planning to start a new business, or enter a new
market, the smartest thing you can do is develop a flexible
business infrastructure designed to be the poster child of
systems engineering. That’s exactly what an Atlanta-based
company did when it entered the red-hot telematics market
several years ago.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 7: Ten Ways to Win with Systems Engineering 65
the company’s relationship with its biggest customer, the
Australian Defense Force.
That’s exactly what Océ N.V. had in mind when it set out to
produce the world’s fastest cut sheet printer. A market leader
in digital document management technology and services, Océ
develops advanced software applications that deliver docu-
ments and data over internal networks and the Internet to
printing devices and archives locally and throughout the world.
Normally, Océ codes each new printer from scratch, but when
faced with the enormous task of coordinating code for 17 pro-
cessors distributed throughout the new printer, the company
decided to re-examine its development processes.
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66 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Streamlining Development
with Collaboration Tools
Companies that develop complex, intelligent, highly instru-
mented products know that success depends as much on
managing the technical work as it does on superior engineer-
ing. Without a system-level discipline coordinating the efforts
of diverse engineering groups, complex products are destined
to become newsworthy failures.
When General Motors (GM) set out to design the Chevy Volt,
it put a tremendous effort into establishing best practices
for systems engineering. GM examined both its development
practices and its technical work management practices with
an eye to improving both.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 7: Ten Ways to Win with Systems Engineering 67
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68 Systems Engineering For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition
Being able to run simple tests as early as possible also pays off
during final testing. Giving early access to the testing teams, even
if they know the product is not really ready or is just a prototype
also helps them improve their test plans and procedures in the
same way it helps the designers check out their ideas.
Sharing Requirements to
Save Time and Money
It’s common for large development organizations to have
two or more geographically dispersed development teams
working on parallel releases with shared requirements. A lot
of time and effort could be saved if these teams had a mecha-
nism for sharing requirements.
These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.