DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM ENGINEERING: IMPLEMENTING SE IN AN INTEGRATED PRODUCT TEAM ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

AbstractMany organizations are turning to Integrated Product Development (IPPD) and Integrated Product Teams (IPT's) as a way to improve the speed and cost effectiveness of their system development process. The Secretary of Defense issued a directive on May 10, 1995 directing the use of IPPD and IPT's to the maximum extent practicable. IPPD and IPT's have proven to be an effective tool when implemented properly, but they are no panacea. One of the challenges of IPT's is that the culture of the organization must change and the implementation of the system engineering process must also change. This paper will take the DoD Guide to Integrated Product and Process Development (Version 1.0) and examine the changes that are required in the way that system engineering has been implemented within project organizations on both the government and contractor side. The applicability of this approach to purely commercial projects will also be examined.The concept of Distributed System Engineering (DSE) was developed to describe a new process for implementing SE within an IPPD structured project. DSE includes cultural changes that are required, new ways of developing and managing requirements and tradeoffs, as well the new knowledge and skills that the IPT members will need in order to step up to this challenge. The role of the project manager and the functional managers in project implementation must also change. An implementation strategy for getting started with DSE in a IPPD environment will be described.