Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
system is a set of laws, rights, codes, and jurisdictions. One thing common
to all systems is that they are expected to meet specified objectives.
The IEEE-Std 1220-2005 defines systems engineering as
“an interdisciplinary approach to derive, evolve, and
verify a life-cycle balanced system solution that satisfies
customer expectations and meets public acceptability.”
It involves the application of efforts to:
1. Transform an operational need into a description of
system performance parameters and a preferred sys-
tem configuration through the use of an iterative
process of functional analysis, optimization, detailed
definition, design, test, and evaluation
2. Incorporate related technical parameters and assure
compatibility of all physical, functional, and logical
interfaces in a manner that optimizes the total sys-
tem and its design
3. Integrate performance, production, reliability, main-
tainability, supportability, and other specialties into
the overall engineering effort
Software engineers have used the systems approach to create a struc-
tured and requirements-driven process to development. The appeal lies
in its ability to take an inherently ambiguous and complex set of require-
ments and apply a structured process to derive an efficient solution. This
process is repeatable, can be uniform across analysts, allows implemen-
tations to be traced to customer requirements, and considers their impli-
cations beyond implementation.
Systems thinking is a vast field, together with a culture of active debate.
We have selected a few thinkers from the field and present what we feel
are their important ideas. They are powerful thinkers from varying back-
grounds, whose ideas can be put to good use by system designers. The
usefulness of any idea is often indirect as it works in the designer's
consciousness to bear fruit at the appropriate time. We, therefore, do not
attempt to draw immediate practical benefits of knowing about such ideas,
many of which, at first glance, may seem irrelevant to software.
 
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