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Systems Engineering is a multidisciplinary approach committed to enabling successful systems delivery, revolving around an integrated process that spans the life cycle of a project – from development to design, construction, handover, and finally, maintenance and operations. Predicated on a holistic view, it necessitates a broad perspective, bridging multiple functional areas and focusing on achieving adequate, sustainable solutions that respond to customer needs while meeting various natural and regulatory constraints.

The Linkage with GoSubmit

Systems engineering’s complex process can be streamlined effectively using platforms like GoSubmit at each stage. GoSubmit provides a robust platform for document submission, review, and feedback – a digitised way for each phase’s deliverable to be checked, verified, and validated, keeping all stakeholders on the same page and allowing real-time project progression tracking, consequently assuring the project’s impeccable quality as it navigates its journey from development to maintenance and operations.

Traceability Matrix: A Significant Factor in Progress Assurance

A crucial endeavour in systems engineering’s progress assurance process is the creation and maintenance of a traceability matrix. This vital tool offers a comprehensive view of the project by mapping and linking its needs with its requirements, design, and tests.

The traceability matrix helps ensure project objectives align with user requirements and that all requirements are effectively met. More so, it provides a clear vision of any project’s ’cause and effect’ roadmap – showing dependencies and tracking how a change in one area might impact others.

Hence, in a system’s lifecycle where timely assurance matters, a traceability matrix emerges as an indispensable tool. It ensures that every step or operation is mapped and verified against initial requirements, working in tandem with tools like GoSubmit to align all project lifecycle stages, bolstering a real-time grasp of project progression and delivering comprehensive systems assurance.

To delve deeper into the realm of Traceability Matrix, this article on Reqi provides a well-rounded understanding: What is a Traceability Matrix.

Principles and Activities of Systems Engineering

The backbone of Systems Engineering revolves around a robust framework of practical activities and principles that define its overarching approach, ultimately leading to the successful completion of complex projects.

Concept Development

Concept Development is where the journey begins. Its main function is to understand and articulate the consumers’ needs and constraints, thus defining the project’s objectives. At this stage, preliminary requirements are also developed and the project’s feasibility is evaluated. Concept development requires a delicate balancing of risk against variables like cost and performance.

Requirements Elicitation

Once the needs are well established, they are assimilated into a list of specifications called requirements. These form a crucial part of systems engineering as they set the parameters for the entire project. Requirements elicitation involves not just listing these parameters, but also ensuring that they meet the SMART criteria of being Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Design and Development

This phase involves the translation of the project’s requirements into a detailed design. Subsystems and components are conceived, and their functional relationships are defined. Crucially, the ideas and concepts from the preceding phases are transformed into tangible plans which can be executed. Rigorous processes are implemented to evaluate design alternatives, select optimal solutions and demonstrate the feasibility of the chosen design.

System Integration

Systems engineering treats the final deliverable as not just a sum of individual components but as an integrated whole. Each component is fitted into the overall system, their interactions with each other studied and optimized. This helps the team build a unified and harmonious system that gracefully meets the set objectives with low risk and high efficiency.

Verification and Validation

Verification ensures that the system has been designed and built correctly. It checks whether individual components, as well as the overall system, meets the specified requirements. Validation, on the other hand, confirms that the right system has been built by testing it against user needs. The aim is to confirm that the system will perform as expected in the operational environment.

Operation and Maintenance

Operation and maintenance start when the system is handed over to the user. During this phase, the system’s performance is monitored continuously to ensure it performs as intended and meets established specifications. Any malfunctions or performance issues are swiftly diagnosed and fixed. The system may also undergo any necessary enhancements or updates during this phase.

System Decommissioning

The final phase of the systems engineering process is decommissioning. Here, the system’s ‘end of life’ is contemplated, marking the retirement of the system from active service. Decommissioning includes contemplating crucial aspects such as data migration, the preservation of essential records, the dismantling of resources, and the obliteration of unnecessary data to shield critical information from potential misuse.

Conclusion

In essence, systems engineering establishes a robust series of proven methodologies designed to handle projects of any complexity. Through its structured life cycle approach, it assures the seamless progression of the project from concept through to operation. It treats each project as an interconnected whole, attentively steering its development, design, construction, handover, and maintenance. Partnering with a digital platform like GoSubmit further enhances this journey, ensuring effective tracking, timely controls and efficient handshake at each phase. Together, systems engineering and GoSubmit deliver successful projects, ensuring optimized functionality and stakeholder satisfaction from the beginning to the end of every project life cycle.