System Integration

Dedicated to the dissemination of System Integration information

The sharing of information needs to be considered when a large system is partitioned at design time, if a factor is a consideration in the partitioning of a system it is a factor in System Integration (S.I.).

 

This problem will particularly apply to Defense contracts, particularly  if the customer or supplier is from the U.S or U.K., but can apply to any contract.

 

Consideration needs to be given to not only the customer/supplier but who the customer/supplier shares information with.  The chances are that  contractual conditions will control the direct passing of information to third parties but it is very difficult to control the indirect passing of information.

 

I am not saying that a company will pass copies of information directly to another company but they can do unintentionally.  Every time a company works on a contract individuals within the contract gain experience, they learn lessons, they learn new techniques.  If this learning process has an input from information from outside the company it is embedded in the new knowledge.

 

On the next contract, maybe with another company, it is inevitable that individuals use this information, this knowledge, the lessons learnt.  They don’t intentionally pass the information on but it is embedded in their knowledge so that the new customer/supplier learns the lessons learnt from previous contracts.

 

If you don’t want proprietary information passed on, this indirect sharing of information needs to be considered.  A single contract will always benefit from the sharing of information but what happens to this information in later times?  If you do put measures in place to stop subsequent information flow to third parties how will this affect the current contract?  It is a case of ‘swings and roundabouts’.

 

Information Sharing and System Integration