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2016 ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference
for this substitution is because program management handles the day-to-day activities of a
technical project or program like balancing the schedule, cost and technical system performance.
On the other hand, system engineering takes a longer view and broader perspective such as
system life cycle and looking at the system from various perspectives, such as: affordability,
usability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, manufacturability, and disposability1.
As a result, system engineering also requires spending more time on the initial or front-end of the
project/program planning near the beginning of a project/program where there is less focus on
day-to-day activities balancing technical performance, schedule and cost. Within this context,
project/program management activities can be viewed as a subset of the system engineering
process. Program/project management becomes more important as the program matures near
operational use and maintenance after development of the system is complete. Project or
program management is integrated within the system engineering courses using appropriate
textbooks1-3.
However, when it comes to starting a project, many times students are absorbed on the solution
or technology. The students are focused on the ‘how’ preferring to apply a particular and
interesting technology without consideration to a particular market or customer need. This
initial approach by the student may be viewed as bottom-up thinking as shown in Figure 1.
When starting a project, the department would
like the students to focus first on the ‘what’: that
is, what functions must the system perform to
meet customer requirements or market needs that
is a solution to a particular problem. This view
of market or demand push is known as top-down
thinking. These two competing views are
commonly known to industry as: technology
push versus requirements pull (or market/demand
pull). Figure 1 depicts these two point of views.
In summary, a system engineering approach
expands the student learning experience to have a holistic thinking perspective while building
upon their specialized electrical or computer engineering skills. The method attempts to help
student change their emphasis from a technology-focused solution to one that meets customer
needs. However, the engineering department values both bottom-up and top-down approaches
used in combination when bringing a system solution into the marketplace.
The next section, describes a system engineering process using the Vee Model1,2,3 to help form
the systematic approach and timeline of weekly deliverables. It’s an attempt to provide a step-
by-step and iterative method to help students expand their system engineering perspective in
order to deliver a well thought out and comprehensive technical solution to the marketplace.
The System Engineering Process and the Vee Model
Figure 2 depicts one system engineering process known as the Vee-Model. One perspective of
the Vee Model comes from a test and evaluation perspective1 shown in Figure 2a and the other
one provides an architecture perspective2 shown in Figure 2b.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
for this substitution is because program management handles the day-to-day activities of a
technical project or program like balancing the schedule, cost and technical system performance.
On the other hand, system engineering takes a longer view and broader perspective such as
system life cycle and looking at the system from various perspectives, such as: affordability,
usability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, manufacturability, and disposability1.
As a result, system engineering also requires spending more time on the initial or front-end of the
project/program planning near the beginning of a project/program where there is less focus on
day-to-day activities balancing technical performance, schedule and cost. Within this context,
project/program management activities can be viewed as a subset of the system engineering
process. Program/project management becomes more important as the program matures near
operational use and maintenance after development of the system is complete. Project or
program management is integrated within the system engineering courses using appropriate
textbooks1-3.
However, when it comes to starting a project, many times students are absorbed on the solution
or technology. The students are focused on the ‘how’ preferring to apply a particular and
interesting technology without consideration to a particular market or customer need. This
initial approach by the student may be viewed as bottom-up thinking as shown in Figure 1.
When starting a project, the department would
like the students to focus first on the ‘what’: that
is, what functions must the system perform to
meet customer requirements or market needs that
is a solution to a particular problem. This view
of market or demand push is known as top-down
thinking. These two competing views are
commonly known to industry as: technology
push versus requirements pull (or market/demand
pull). Figure 1 depicts these two point of views.
In summary, a system engineering approach
expands the student learning experience to have a holistic thinking perspective while building
upon their specialized electrical or computer engineering skills. The method attempts to help
student change their emphasis from a technology-focused solution to one that meets customer
needs. However, the engineering department values both bottom-up and top-down approaches
used in combination when bringing a system solution into the marketplace.
The next section, describes a system engineering process using the Vee Model1,2,3 to help form
the systematic approach and timeline of weekly deliverables. It’s an attempt to provide a step-
by-step and iterative method to help students expand their system engineering perspective in
order to deliver a well thought out and comprehensive technical solution to the marketplace.
The System Engineering Process and the Vee Model
Figure 2 depicts one system engineering process known as the Vee-Model. One perspective of
the Vee Model comes from a test and evaluation perspective1 shown in Figure 2a and the other
one provides an architecture perspective2 shown in Figure 2b.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
