Implementing Systems Engineering Into an Ongoing Program

Systems Engineering as a process for the management of large complex projects has been practiced for many years in the defense and aerospace industries. There, through experience of application, it has been developed into a standard process, or set of processes, depending on whether one is looking at the whole or its parts. The logic, and success, of the approach are such that it has been published in several standards, originally as Mil Std 499a and follow on Draft Mil Std 499b, and now as commercial standards EIA 632, and IEEE 1220. The process is now being adopted by some non-defense industries but it has not been generally recognized as a useful management tool for all types of projects, large or small, defense or non-defense. This may be due to its association with large complex Department of Defense or aerospace engineering projects, or difficulties encountered in attempting to apply the concepts. Systems engineering is a fundamental, simple process but may encounter difficult problems when implemented in large ongoing programs or projects. This paper discusses the problems and possible solutions for implementing systems engineering into ongoing programs or projects.