System Integration

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Systems Engineering

Systems Engineering (S.E.) has many definitions, I will add my own.

 

I would define S.E. as: -

 

The creation of a system where the needs and requirements of everyone are taken into account and implemented.

 

It is often the case that suits one stage in a process does not suit a subsequent stage, e.g. something that makes the designers life easier makes the manufacturers life harder. It can also happen that a system is designed without taking into account how the system will be tested.

 

S.E. is all about taking everyone's requirements into account from the earliest stages, considering how a system will be disposed at design time, how it will be tested and integrated etc.

 

S.E. is about looking into the future and seeing how the development process will work in practise, not cutting corners for short term benefits that come back to bite you at some point in the future.

 

S.E. is also about taking into account the requirements of people who are traditionally thought of not having an input, e.g. the environmentalists when designing a car, noise abatement lobbyists when designing an aeroplane.  If you think that the requirements of these people are irrelevant look at how car manufacturers now emphasise the low emissions of their cars, or how Rolls Royce went bust over the RB211, Concorde and noise.