Effective management of simulation and modeling projects

Abstract

The increasing capabilities and decreasing costs of the digital computer allow system developers to attack ever larger and more complex problems. Today's software manager must be experienced, adroit and prepared to handle the complexities and challenges of modern, large-scale, multidisciplinary systems development. The major concern of today's modeling practitioner is to foster the development and definition of a viable and disciplined life-cycle management methodology for the control of change. This methodology would include procedures for software cost estimation, control of time and resources, a means of verification/validation and procedures for proving that results are significant and correct.Effective management and control of modeling and simulation projects provides significant savings in the development of large-scale, complex, multidisciplinary systems. With the evolution of the techniques of modeling, simulation and software engineering from “art to science”, must come discipline. Discipline is the responsibility of the manager, and for him to effectively control the development of today's projects, he must have a detailed understanding of the simulation software phased, cascading lifecycle. With this knowledge, the management can develop an effective simulation methodology to attack the major cost problems of analysis, design, visibility, testing (verification/validation), standards, concurrent documentation, configuration management, reliability and quality control. To understand the software life-cycle, one must first understand that it is unlike any other product life-cycle and thus, an effective modeling and simulation methodology will require some techniques and mechanisms which differ from the classical management patterns.To fully support the establishment of a meaningful software development methodology,the management must define:1. a life-cycle description and understanding2. component activities, relationships, intexfaces and interactions3. a schedule and milestones to be met4. management principles, tools and techniques to help plan and control the projectAmong the conclusions that may be drawn from current activities in the software field are that software tools are needed for effective software management, development, control, and quantitative assessment of the modeling and simulation software processes.The panelists will discuss the problems they have encountered, the simulation life-cycle, and their experiences in the development of large-scale, multidisciplinary systems.