6.2.1 “SYSTEMS ENGINEERING: DRIVING THE EVOLUTION TO ACTIONABLE ARCHITECTURE”

Abstract

AbstractSystems engineering is a well‐developed, proven practice in both the commercial world and the US government. Enterprise architecture, while comparatively new to many federal agencies, brings together proven commercial and government architecture and modeling best practices from the last three decades. Systems engineering is a key thread in any enterprise architecture initiative. With its enterprise view, architecture builds a thread through systems engineering and relates it to broader enterprise IT efforts.This paper examines the role and value of systems engineering in architecture development. How do the two relate to each other? Both utilize standards; both deliver a common platform that facilitates communications and information sharing among users.Systems engineering delivers an actual product–a system; enterprise architecture delivers a blueprint. Both deliver interoperability, yet systems engineering deals with product development while enterprise architecture deals with alignment and management. Systems engineering provides information for decision support, but this is not the primary goal. Enterprise architecture delivers a blueprint for decision support, not for product development. Both disciplines share a relatively long history of practice.We will discuss how systems engineering is related to broader architecture efforts. The importance of systems engineering as part of an architecture roadmap, and ultimately, a decision support tool, will be explored. We will also look at the trend toward ‘actionable’ architecture that integrates systems and mission, goals and capabilities into one view. ‘Actionable architecture’ offers improved decision support for IT in areas such as technology investments, gap analysis, cost reduction and improved efficiency.