Rashmi Jain

Exploring the Impact of Systems Architecture and Systems Requirements on Systems Integration Complexity

The need to perform faster systems integration of complex systems require the architect and design team to understand how the selected architecture and design components will impact the systems integration processes complexity (or difficulty). Systems integration process complexity is an outcome of the interaction between degree of feasibility and level of effort required to understand, describe, implement, manage, and document the systems integration process for a given system development and operational environment. This paper analyzes the cause-and-effect relationships between the system requirements, architecture and the systems integration processes complexity. In order to address systems integration issues upfront in the design phase it is necessary to determine if the architecture and design of components, subsystems, processes, and interfaces impacts (and to what extent) systems integration process complexity. This paper also defines and analyzes the impact of the different system architecture and requirements factors on systems integration process complexity. A research framework is developed to understand the cause-and-effect relationships between system requirements, architecture, and integration process. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations based on the causality results. These conclusions are based on research undertaken by the authors on eight development projects in the government sector.

A framework for end-to-end approach to Systems Integration

Systems Integration (SI) is an important element of systems engineering which involves the integration of hardware, software, products, services, business processes, and human. The existing standards, models, and guidelines of Systems Engineering and Software Engineering address SI issues partially and usually view SI from a perspective of integrating physical components. They lack a holistic end-to-end approach to SI. Due to the emerging Systems Engineering challenges and the increasing importance of SI, the need for a holistic approach to SI has become critical. A Systems Integration Framework (SIF) was developed that incorporates the relevant aspects of integration from a lifecycle perspective and sets a foundation to an end-to-end approach to SI.

Benchmarking the redesign of “business process reengineering” curriculum: A continuous process improvement (CPI)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of business process reengineering (BPR) and benchmarking principles to redesign an undergraduate course on BPR to achieve continuous improvements. The principles are applied on a course on BPR in the curriculum of engineering management (EM) program at Stevens Institute of Technology. The EM program aims to provide the students the knowledge and skills, which are necessary to work effectively at the interface between technology, management, and engineering. BPR course (EM435) is recently added to EM programs curriculum to support the need for providing the bridge between the engineering of systems and business operations.Design/methodology/approach – The research approach design is laid out from the time the EM435 course is first offered in the fall of 2006 to the senior year EM students. The students are surveyed and areas of redesign and improvements are identified based on benchmarking against ABET criteria and their associated outco...

Rapid System Development (RSD) Methodologies: Proposing a Selection Framework

Abstract: The current global customer trend requires companies across domains to reduce their product development lifecycle. As a result the exploration of methodologies that will support rapid system development has been gaining importance. The primary focus of this article is to provide a framework for comparative analysis of rapid system development methodologies. The purpose of this framework is to help the project managers and systems engineers choose and tailor an appropriate rapid development methodology to suit their development context and environment. Toward this, the framework identifies and defines a set of critical rapid development attributes. The article redefines rapid system development as adopting methodologies, tools, and techniques that can introduce rapidity into the system development processes while optimizing the success factors of development. The success factors are specific to the system under development and they depend on the system, product line, organization, and customers. Some of the common success factors are return-on-investment (ROI), cost of ownership, other performance factors, and customer satisfaction. The article provides a fundamental discussion on the current rapid system development methodologies, metrics, tools, and techniques.

Impact of Identified Causal Factors to “System of Systems” Integration Complexity from a Defense Industry Perspective

Multi-mission projects such as Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program involve systems with unique capabilities developed by different companies to communicate together. While system integration for an independent system is a challenge in itself, integration for system of systems is a huge complex effort in part due to interoperability challenges. The focus of this paper is research, analyze, and prioritize some of the causal factors of system integration complexity, such as interoperability, for complex systems such as BMD.Complex system integration is used interchangeably with system of systems integration in this paper because currently in the defense industry, system of systems integration is the new complex system integration. From the defense industry perspective, an attempt is made to contribute in developing a cause and effect relationship model between system requirements, system architecture (specifically open system architecture), and system of systems integration process complexity.

Translating systems engineering for high school teachers and students: an exploratory study of implementing some initial SE concepts

Systems engineering is a life cycle approach to engineering design: the integration of numerous technical and non-technical disciplines toward the development of new products, systems and services. This paper describes the experiences of the authors in designing and implementing a three-year project to engage high school classes in a geographically-distributed systems engineering design project that addresses relevant, social challenges of interest to students worldwide. Collaborating with others around the world to develop a solution to an engineering problem, students are introduced to systems-thinking, team work, effective communication and other 21st century workforce skills. This innovative project aims to increase the number of students interested in pursuing engineering as a career and to increase the pool of teachers familiar with engineering design and systems thinking.

Evolving role of business process reengineering: a perspective of employers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze and illustrate the needs and expectations of the industry from a newly hired engineering candidate for an entry‐level position involving business process reengineering (BPR). The paper aims to highlight the changing role and the new emerging face of business process design, analysis, and management, its relevant contents and methodologies, its new role, and emergence of a value of BPR, which has been redefined.Design/methodology/approach – The growing interest and the importance of the role of business processes in organizations have promoted the development and implementation of an undergraduate level course on BPR at Stevens Institute in 2006. This research involved a survey of some potential employers during a recent redesigning of this course. The survey collected information from the employers on how important and relevant are the topics on BPR that are covered in the course for an entry‐level BPR related position.Findings – The findings indicate a st...

Feasibility of a rapid systems engineering framework: an exploratory study

Systems Engineering (SE) has been traditionally viewed as an extremely rigorous approach for having resource intensive processes often perceived to involve bureaucratic decision making; therefore, deemed to be affordable only by large companies and government institutions. However, in recent years, the commercial industry is trying to leverage the benefits of SE by selecting the relevant aspects that apply to them and customising SE to a leaner and compressed version. This paper explores the suitability and the feasibility of rapid approaches and techniques to the existing SE processes. More specifically, this paper describes 22 techniques of rapid systems engineering (RSE) during the design and implementation processes, relevant to those processes and lessons learned. These techniques are applied to the 14 SE processes as illustrated by the SE standard – ISO 15288. An exploratory survey was developed by the authors based on the SE process activities as per ISO 15288 to evaluate application utilising a rapid approach in current projects from various industries. This paper provides conclusions to applying rapid techniques to the SE processes based on existing literature and the experiences of the projects surveyed. It concludes with a discussion of potential research projects for the evaluation of RSE.

A Taxonomy and Holistic Approach to Risk Assessment of Network-Centric Systems

The need for information superiority and the capability to immediately and appropriately respond when necessary has been driving the military and commercial market domains towards more sustainable, interoperable, and pervasive collections of network-centric systems. In this paper we will review essential aspects of a network centric system (NCS) and propose a risk taxonomy applicable during the operational phase of an NCS. This paper is unique in that the taxonomy proposed herein can be used as a framework for modeling, analysis, and assessment of operational risks associated with network centric systems.

Assessing systems architecture: an exploratory framework

Competitive forces are pushing companies to leverage value from their system architecting competency that supports long-term growth. A systems architecture profoundly influences the cost and success of a system throughout the entire lifecycle and the business processes it supports. Assessment results can be used to drive changes in the architecture that would increase project success, alignment of business goals, stakeholder acceptance, decrease costs throughout the entire lifecycle, and enhance system performance and quality. Most relevant architecture assessment methods focus on system attributes. The key to success in this approach is to understand which system attributes should be addressed and what impact they have on architecture. The existing literature does not provide a comprehensive list of these attributes. This research identifies a set of relevant system architecture attributes in a classification framework aligned to business objectives that can be used for architecture assessment.