Starting with this post, we plan to briefly explain each process of systems engineering through a total of four posts in the future, and attach an IPO diagram showing the input, activity, and output of the process. These diagrams will not only help you understand the process flow at a glance, but will also be very useful in preparing for the INCOSE Knowledge Exam.
Agreement and Enabling Processes
System Life Cycle Processes presented in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 are as follows.
- Agreement Processes
- 1-1. Acquisition
- 1-2. Supply
- Organization Project Enabling Processes
- 2-1. Life Cycle Model Management
- 2-2. Infrastructure Management
- 2-3. Portfolio Management
- 2-4. Human Resource Management
- 2-5. Quality Management
- 2-6. Knowledge Management
- Technical Management Processes
- 3-1. Project Planning
- 3-2. Project Assessment & Control
- 3-3. Decision Management
- 3-4. Risk Management
- 3-5. Configuration Management
- 3-6. Information Management
- 3-7. Measurement
- 3-8. Quality Assurance
- Technical Processes
- 4-1. Concept Definition
- 4-1-1. Business or Mission Analysis
- 4-1-2. Stakeholder Needs and Requirements Definition
- 4-2. System Definition
- 4-2-1. System Requirements Definition
- 4-2-2. System Architecture Definition
- 4-2-3. Design Definition
- 4-3. System Realization
- 4-3-1. Verification
- 4-3-2. Validation
- 4-3-3. Implementation
- 4-3-4. Integration
- 4-4. System Deployment and Use
- 4-4-1. Transition
- 4-4-2. Operation
- 4-4-3. Maintenance
- 4-4-4. Disposal
- 4-5. System Analysis
- 4-1. Concept Definition
1. Agreed Processes
A project begins with recognizing a problem or identifying an opportunity and then becomes concrete by clarifying the need and allocating resources. One of the important steps is to establish the relationship and terms between the buyer and supplier through the Memorandum of Understanding procedure defined in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288.
This process focuses on the procurement and supply of systems, products, and services and is utilized when an organization is unable to meet a need directly, when an economical or expeditious supplier is required, or when directed by a higher authority. The purpose of the memorandum of understanding process is to establish the interface between the buyer and supplier and set the terms of the transaction.
Contract negotiations proceed in various ways depending on the characteristics of each organization and the formality of the negotiation. Systems engineering (SE) practitioners assist project managers in negotiation, impact assessment and risk assessment of change. This process is important for both parties to track progress toward reaching an agreement and identify any additional work needed. This process provides a foundation for organizations to work together more effectively and deliver high-quality results.
1-1. Acquisition Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the purchasing process is to obtain products or services according to requirements. The Buyer activates this process when it needs operational systems, operational system support services, system elements under development in a project, or project activity support services.
Purchasing organizations are careful when selecting suppliers to avoid costly failures on budget and schedule, and protect the organization from other problems. Therefore, the buyer’s role requires familiarity with the technical, technical management, and organizational project support processes that the supplier uses when executing the contract.
- IPO
1-2. Supply Process
The supply process is highly dependent on technical, technical management and organizational project support processes. This is because executing contracts is done through these processes. This means that the supply process is the larger context within which other processes apply under the contract.
- IPO
2. Organization Project Enabling Processes
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, organizational project support processes focus on providing the necessary resources for projects to meet the needs and expectations of the organization’s stakeholders. These processes are mainly addressed at the strategic level, such as managing and improving the organization, providing and deploying resources and assets, and managing risk in competitive or uncertain situations. They set the environment in which the project is carried out.
These processes focus on the capabilities of the organizations involved to support the system life cycle and do not address general business management objectives, although the two areas sometimes overlap. ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 identifies six organizational project support processes: life cycle model management, infrastructure management, portfolio management, human resource management, quality management, and knowledge management. These processes provide the resources and organizational support to enable projects focused on the system life cycle. Organizations will tailor these processes and their interfaces to specific strategic and tactical goals that support the organization’s projects.
2-1. Life Cycle Model Management Process
As specified in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the life cycle model management process is to ensure that the organization defines, maintains and secures policies, life cycle processes, life cycle models and procedures consistent with the scope of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288. no see.
This process establishes and maintains policies and procedures that support the acquisition and supply of products and services at the organizational level and the integrated systems necessary to meet the organization’s strategic plans, policies, objectives, and objectives of all projects and life cycle stages. Provides a cycle model. These courses are defined, aligned, and maintained to support the needs of the organization, its systems engineering organizational units, and individual projects and personnel. The life cycle model management process is complemented by recommended methodologies and tools. These guidelines are presented in the form of organizational policies and procedures, which can still be customized by the project.
- IPO
2-2. Infrastructure Management Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the infrastructure management process is to provide infrastructure and services to a project to support organizational and project objectives throughout its life cycle.
An organization’s work is accomplished through projects, and these projects are carried out within an infrastructure environment. This infrastructure must be defined and understood within the organization and project, and is necessary to ensure alignment of work units and achievement of organizational strategic objectives. This course exists to establish, communicate, and continually improve the system life cycle process environment.
Infrastructure management is an organizational project support process and is the foundation for managing and improving all systems engineering (SE) processes. Effective infrastructure management is essential to ensuring an organization’s ability to change and that that change is positive, sustainable, and impactful. Each element of the infrastructure is a System Element (SoI), and the technical management and technical processes specified in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 apply to the establishment and maintenance of the infrastructure. Additionally, the infrastructure management process includes physical, political and process improvement infrastructure.
- IPO
2-3. Portfolio Management Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the portfolio management process is to initiate and maintain necessary, sufficient, and appropriate projects to meet the strategic objectives of the organization. Portfolio management also provides organizational output about an organization’s set of projects, systems, and technology investments to external stakeholders such as parent organizations, investors/funding sources, and governance bodies.
Projects create products or services that meet organizational goals and generate revenue. Therefore, successful project implementation requires the allocation of sufficient funds and resources and the authority to deploy them to achieve project goals. Most business entities manage the commitment of financial resources using well-defined and closely monitored processes.
The portfolio management process also conducts continuous evaluation of the projects and systems within the portfolio. Based on periodic evaluations, projects justify continued investment if they have the following characteristics:
- Contribute to organizational strategy
- Progress towards achieving set goals
- Compliance with the organization’s project directives
- Carry out according to the approved plan
- Provide a service or product that is still needed and provides an acceptable return on investment
If not, the project may be redirected or, in extreme cases, terminated.
- IPO
2-4. Human Resource Management Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the human resource management process is to provide human resources and maintain their capabilities to meet the strategic needs of the organization.
Every project requires resources to achieve its goals. This process addresses human resources, while non-human resources are addressed through the Infrastructure Management process (see Section 2.3.3.2). Project planners determine the resources needed for a project by forecasting current and future needs. The human resource management process provides a mechanism for organizational management to recognize project needs and ensure that personnel are deployed when requested. Although this process can be explained simply, the execution is not so simple. Resolve conflicts, train personnel, and ensure employees have the right to vacation and off-duty time.
Human resource management organizations are responsible for gathering needs, negotiating to eliminate conflicts, and providing personnel where no other task can be accomplished. Since qualified personnel are not free, their costs are also factored into investment decisions.
- IPO
2-5. Quality Management Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of a quality management (QM) process is to ensure that products, services, and the implementation of quality management processes meet the quality objectives of the organization and project and achieve customer satisfaction.
The broad process for achieving quality objectives consists of the quality management process and its supporting methods, values, and secondary processes. When properly communicated through policies and procedures, the organization’s goals become clear to achieve customer satisfaction. When supported by measurable activities, these goals provide feedback that maintains consistency in the work process and delivers quality results. Because the key drivers in projects are time, cost, and quality, the inclusion of a comprehensive QM process and its sub-processes is essential for every organization and must be sustained by a work culture disciplined in the proper implementation of the fundamental principles and values of QM. do. System life cycle processes are tied to quality issues, which justifies investing the time, money, and energy to establish QM fundamentals in the organization, its processes, and its people.
The QM process for systems engineering (SE) ensures that all SE processes are consistently deployed by competent staff to produce system designs that meet stakeholder requirements, development and development processes that produce high levels of performance throughout the organization. Ensure compliance with the deployment process.
- IPO
2-6. Knowledge Management Process
According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, the purpose of the knowledge management (KM) process is to create capabilities and assets that enable the organization to take advantage of opportunities to recycle existing knowledge.
Knowledge management involves the identification, capture, creation, expression, dissemination and exchange of knowledge between stakeholder groups. This process stems from the insights and experiences of individuals, organizational groups, and projects. Knowledge includes explicit knowledge (conscious awareness of knowledge, often captured in artifacts and communicable) and tacit knowledge (knowledge internalized without awareness by an individual or team) and can be either personal (through experience) or organizational (process-related) knowledge. , practices, and lessons learned).
Within organizations, explicit knowledge is typically captured in training, processes, practices, methods, policies, and procedures. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is embedded in individuals or teams in an organization and must be identified and captured using specialized techniques to be transferred within the organization.
KM efforts typically focus on organizational goals such as performance improvement, competitive advantage, innovation, sharing of good practices or lessons learned, avoiding relearning, integration, and continuous improvement of the organization. KM captures knowledge that might otherwise be lost. Therefore, it is generally advantageous for organizations to adopt a KM approach that builds frameworks, assets, and infrastructure to support KM.
How an organization supports its project (or program) environment with the resources of its KM system can be accomplished in several ways:
- Knowledge captured from technical experts.
- Lessons captured from previous similar projects.
- Domain engineering information that can be reused across projects, for example, as part of a product line or system family.
- Commonly encountered architecture or design patterns.
- Other reusable assets that may be applicable to SoI.
- IPO
If you are interested in other articles about ASEP PREP Series, please refer to the links below!
[ASEP-Prep] #1. What is System LIFE CYCLE?
[ASEP-Prep] #3. Technical Management Processes
[ASEP-Prep] #4. Technical Processes – Concept and System Definition
[ASEP-Prep] #5. Technical Processes – System Realization, Deploy and Use
[ASEP-Prep] #6. Quality Characteristics