A Field Guide to the NASA Procedural Requirements for Systems Engineering

Abstract

In March 2007, NASA issued the new NASA procedural requirements (NPR) for systems engineering - NPR 7123.1 A NASA systems engineering processes and requirements - as part of the NASA systems engineering framework. This NPR "establishes a core set of common agency-level technical processes and requirements needed to define, develop, realize, and integrate the quality of the system products created and acquired by or for NASA."The processes described in the NPR are intended to "clearly delineate a successful model to complete comprehensive technical work, reduce program and technical risk, and improve mission success."The rationale for the Systems Engineering (SE) NPR is the fact that "systems engineering at NASA requires the application of a systematic, disciplined engineering approach that is quantifiable, recursive, iterative, and repeatable for the development, operation, maintenance, and disposal of systems integrated into a whole throughout the life-cycle of a project or program. The emphasis of systems engineering is on safely achieving stakeholder functional,physical, and operational performance requirements in the intended use environments over the system's planned life within cost and schedule constraints." [6] This paper provides an overview of NPR 7123.1A, including institutional and programmatic requirements, requirements for common technical processes, NASA oversight activities on contracted projects, systems engineering technical reviews, and the purpose and function of a systems engineering management plan (SEMP). It also includes an overview of the practices for common technical processes - system design processes, technical management processes, and product realization processes - as well as a discussion of the entrance and success criteria for technical reviews. It concludes with how the NPR is being implemented across the Agency, how NASA systems engineers are being trained in its use, and the impact of the NPR to date.