Systems Engineering Fundamentals
Length: Approximately 8 hours.
Description
This course is an introduction to systems engineering for ITS project managers and project staff. It provides a high-level view of a broad and rich topic area, introducing basic concepts to individuals who are working on ITS projects. The goal is to allow these individuals to understand the benefits of applying systems engineering approaches as a means of developing quality systems. The course covers technical practices such as modeling, prototyping, trade-off analysis and testing, and management practices such as risk assessment and mitigation, which make up “best practices” in the systems engineering arena.
This course is part of the core Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) curriculum established by the ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) program. For more information on the core curriculum, click here.
Objectives
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
- Define Systems Engineering and its application to ITS.
- Describe the system’s life cycle and its relationship to systems engineering.
- Develop, derive, and validate requirements for a system.
- List the systems engineering tools available to mitigate risk.
- Define and apply the concept of earned value as a tracking mechanism.
- List three alternative strategies that may be applied to decision making under uncertainty.
- Identify where to find appropriate standards for developing ITS projects.
- Identify resources that may help project personnel to look at systems as a whole.
Outline (click to display)
Lesson 1: Overview of Systems Engineering
- What Is a System?
- Parts of a System
- What Is a System?
- Systems Engineering: Purpose & Focus
- Systems Engineering Principles
- Who Performs Systems Engineering?
- Systems Engineering: Capability & Participants
- Systems Engineering: Benefits
- Project Risk Factors
- Transportation Engineering and Systems Engineering
- Traditional vs Complex ITS Projects
- Designing Complex Systems
Lesson 2: The Systems Engineering V
- Building Our Infrastructure
- Roadway Engineering vs Military Logistics
- The Systems Engineering for ITS V
- ITS Rule/Policy and Systems Engineering
- Requirement 1: Identification of portions of the regional ITS architecture being implemented
- Requirement 2: Identification of participating agencies roles and responsibilities
- Requirement 3: Requirements definitions
- Requirement 4: Analysis of alternative system configurations and technology options to meet requirements
- Requirement 5. Procurement Options
- Requirement 6. Identification of applicable ITS standards and testing procedures
- Requirement 7. Procedures and resources necessary for operations and management of the system
Lesson 3: The Systems Engineering V: Going Deeper
- What is a Concept of Operations?Purpose of the ConOps
- Who Develops the ConOps
- What Are Operational Scenarios?
- Getting Started on the ConOps
- The ConOps Outline
- Use Cases & Use Case Diagrams
- Process Map
- User Needs
- Unified Modeling Language
- Summary: Documentation Methods
- An Example: OurTown
- Developing Requirements
- Knowledge Check
- Requirements Hierarchy
- Requirements Traceability
- OurTown Requirements
- Requirements Traceability and the V
- Traceability and Project References
- Traceability Matrix
- Traceability Example
- Using a Regional Architecture
- Components of a Regional Architecture
- Using Your Regional Architecture
- Benefits of Using the Regional ITS Architecture
Lesson 4: Reviewing Systems Engineering
- Reviews are Part of the Systems Engineering V
- Purpose of Systems Engineering Reviews
- Participants in the Systems Engineering Process
- Questions About S/E Reviews
- ITS Project Documentation
- Review Strategies
- Questions About Review Strategies
- Reviewing Documents for Oversight
Lesson 5: Applying Systems Engineering to ITS Projects
- Risk Management
- Start with These Top 10 Generic Risks
- Elements of Risk Management
- Sample Qualitative Risk Planning Process
- Another Way to Assess Risks
- Sample Risk Control Strategy
- Risk Management: A Real-Life Example
- Recall: Risk Factors for ITS Projects
- The Systems Engineering Process
- Planning for Operations
- Relationship Between Systems Engineering and Planning for Operations
- Two Processes for ITS Projects
- Roadway Process for Low-Risk Projects
- High-Risk Projects
- Alternative Development Strategies Using the V
- Low-Risk Projects vs High-Risk Projects
- Choosing the Best Process Based on Risk
- SEA as a Decision Tool
- System Procurement Process
- A Last Word: Proprietary Acquisition
Contributor(s)
Richard W. Denney, Jr., P.E.
FHWA Resource Center—Operations
Philip Tarnoff
Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT)
