ETD Collection

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Systems engineering

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    The status of systems engineering in a South African engineering organisation: a survey
    (2019-10-18) Selepe, Bafana Zephania
    The technology advancement of the latter half of the twentieth century and into this century has been the most significant driver of the emergence of Systems Engineering as a critical skill in the development of complex systems. Not only did the advancement of technology affected the products, but, also the manner in which these products are being developed, manufactured, operated, supported and maintained. The challenges confronting many organisations seeking to implement Systems Engineering in their projects are far from trivial. The current practices and culture in most of these organisations often constrain the adoption of Systems Engineering. A survey research was conducted to investigate the status of Systems Engineering at a South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) using one of its business unit, namely Defence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) as a unit of measure. The research instrument for the study was developed based on the international standards and capability maturity models of Systems Engineering, to assess the status of Systems Engineering and to investigate whether an association exist between the status of Systems Engineering and a Competency Area or Job Category at DPSS. The results showed that the majority in the Competency Areas within DPSS utilises the specific practices associated with the technical processes of Systems Engineering in their projects and that there is no association between the status of Systems Engineering and Competency Area or Job Category. However, the study also shows that there is still room for improvement.
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    Application for systems engineering concepts as enhancements to the project lifecycle methodology
    (2016) Mabelo, Pascal Bohulu
    Project management put the U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong on the moon and has made possible the realisation of some of mankind’s wildest dreams. Recent project management trends would indicate that the discipline has not only departed from the traditional practice of delivering projects based on an engineering design (with appended cost and schedule estimates), but that project scope, scale and complexity have drastically increased as well. It would however transpire from the numerous and recurrent unsatisfactory outcomes of Large Infrastructure Projects (LIPs) that traditional project management has not necessarily kept pace with such new developments – especially their ever-increasing complexity. Massive costs and schedule overruns on such projects attest to the severity of this problem. Similarly, instances of substantial changes to the initial project scope will suggest that modern project management approaches would still require enhancements. Project management is defined as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements“ (PMBoK Ver. 5) – Hence, to improve project delivery performance, a particular attention should be given to managing requirements throughout the project lifecycle, which constitutes the essence of System Engineering (SE). Systems Engineering, as a discipline and as a way of thinking, is gaining popularity and acceptance in its applications to Large Infrastructure Projects (LIPs) due to the benefits emerging from its ability to manage escalating complexity, particularly in large and complex infrastructure projects such as transportation (e.g. railways, ports), energy, and water infrastructure projects. These LIPs drive economic growth, through both their construction phase (e.g., job creation) and their successful outcomes (e.g., better services). This study has considered Systems Engineering principles and concepts for incorporation by way of enhancements into a holistic project lifecycle model that improves delivery effectiveness – which shall then result in substantially reduced cost and schedule overruns on Large Infrastructure Projects (LIPs).
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    Systems engineering in the research and development environment
    (2017) Ramdas, Ashlin
    uncertainties due to the unprecedented nature of the work undertaken. The system engineering approach has been utilized to deal with complexity and technical risks to reduce associated cost and schedule implications. The aim of this research is to investigate how the application of systems engineering reduces uncertainties and associated risks in the Research and Development environment? A case study approach was utilized and a research design was developed according to Yin (2009). The case utilized was the Square Kilometre Array Project as this project is done in an R&D context and applied systems engineering in the project. It was found that systems engineering does reduce technical risk and uncertainties in an R&D environment. This is achieved through the application of systems engineering technical processes and the utilization of technical management to plan the processes in line with the level of risk. Systems engineering methods and tools are then utilized in the process during project execution. Examples from the case are presented to support this finding. A limitation to this claim, due to the fact that not the entire R&D spectrum was investigated, is that the application of these must be tailored to the associated level of risk. The formality of the process must also be tailored to the level of risk and the size of the project team.
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    Improvement of the software systems development life cycle of the credit scoring process at a financial institution through the application of systems engineering
    (2016-10-11) Meyer, Nadia
    The research centred on improving the current software systems development life cycle (SDLC) of the credit scoring process at a financial institution based on systems engineering principles. The research sought ways to improve the current software SDLC in terms of cost, schedule and performance. This paper proposes an improved software SDLC that conforms to the principles of systems engineering. As decisioning has been automated in financial institutions, various processes are developed according to a software SDLC in order to ensure accuracy and validity thereof. This research can be applied to various processes within financial institutions where software development is conducted, verified and tested. A comparative analysis between the current software SDLC and a recommended SDLC was performed. Areas within the current SDLC that did not comply with systems engineering principles were identified. These inefficiencies were found during unit testing, functional testing and regression testing. An SDLC is proposed that conforms to systems engineering principles and is expected to reduce the current SDLC schedule by 20 per cent. Proposed changes include the sequence of processes within the SDLC, increasing test coverage by extracting data from the production environment, filtering and sampling data from the production environment, automating functional testing using mathematical algorithms, and creating a test pack for regression testing which adequately covers the software change.