“Systems engineering is more than just writing and managing requirements or recording and following processes”

Systems Engineering is being successfully applied in more and more sectors. We spoke with course leader Paul Schreinemakers of How2SE about the trends in Systems Engineering, successful projects and what he wants to convey with the SE trainings.

What trends and developments do you see in the field of Systems Engineering?

When taking the first steps in Systems Engineering (SE), one often starts with writing and managing requirements and recording and strictly following processes. Time and again you see that Verification and Validation then become opportune and people take the first steps in making design choices more explicit. The more mature one becomes in working with SE, the more one starts working with system architecture. This architecture records the coherence of the entire system, with an eye for the need, use and necessary functionalities, but also the consideration of the system concepts and their application. The system architecture is described at a more abstract system level and provides the restrictions and frameworks for the design work to be carried out. Subsequently, the trend has been set to model the system architecture as well as the detailed designs, realization and verification & validation. This is called Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

Other trends that increasingly challenge us as Engineers and Systems Engineers are the enormous increase in complexity of systems and the environment in which they operate. Just think of the Internet of Things with its 20 trillion connected devices, Big Data and the art of making the right choices based on the enormous amount of data, the shift from hierarchical coherence of systems to a strong network structure and the trend that systems are constantly subject to change after delivery. Barely 20 years ago, you bought a car that remained virtually unchanged until it was scrapped, while today's cars are continuously connected to data centers via the internet and receive software updates on a very regular basis. Finally, the integration of people and systems is becoming increasingly intensive and therefore increasingly complex.

Can you name projects that have been successful through the application of SE?

As far as I am concerned, you will find projects that have been successful in various domains. Take, for example, the legions of projects in the defense, aerospace and space industries where the development and use of the systems were in line with expectations of customers and users, while budgets and schedules were not or hardly exceeded. Of course, there are also projects in those industries where things still got quite out of hand. Just think of the JSF and the Boeing 737 Max. In infrastructure, the Bridge at Millau (South of France) is a wonderful example of a project that delivered the required quality within time and budget. This is truly a successful system.

Projects that we as How2SE are involved in are the Antwerp Ring, the Theemsweg at the Port of Rotterdam, EULYNX – the rail safety system at ProRail and a project (not specifically mentioned) for the development of medical equipment. It is important to us that projects that we support continuously pay attention to the integrality of the system including its context and meeting the needs of both the customer and the user.

What do you want to convey with the SE trainings?

The proper and effective application of Systems Engineering ensures that we find the balance between Processes, the Content knowledge & considerations and finally the Skill and competence of the Systems Engineer to get the right information at the right time, with the right resolution, for effective decision-making. Especially in domains where Systems Engineering has only been applied for a relatively short time, the focus is always on writing and managing requirements and also on recording and strictly following processes. As mentioned before, this is only a small part of the things we need to do to successfully and effectively apply Systems Engineering and System Architecture.

Trainings in the field of SE

Paul Schreinemakers is certfied as ESEP (Expert Systems Engineering Professional) and teaches two trainings in the field of SE at PAOTM. During the course Introduction to Systems Engineering you learn more about Systems Engineering and how you can apply SE in your projects. System architecture and integral design with SE is an in-depth course in which you will learn to apply the correct techniques and tools to continue to monitor the integrity of the system during all phases of the project.