Systems Thinking and Engineering

Session 6.1 : Systems Life-cycle

Dr Rudolph Oosthuizen
May 2021
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System Lifecycle
• Life-cycle Stages
• Life-cycle Approaches
• Life-cycle Tailoring

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Life-cycle Stages
• Progresses through life-cycle due to actions by people
• Six generic life cycle stages:
• Concept
• Development
• Production
• Utilization
• Support
• Retirement
• A variety of models exist, which to implement?
• Understand the underlying rationale
• Select a suitable model and tailor

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Life-cycle Stages

• “Sunrise to sunset”
• “Cradle to grave”
• “Lust to Dust”
• “Sperm to worm”
• “Cradle to cradle”

(INCOSE SE Handbook, 2015)

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Concept Stage
• Define problem space to identify need for new or modified SOI
• Identify and refine stakeholder needs
• Produce business and stakeholder requirements
• Research preliminary concepts as starting point
• Explore ideas and technologies
• Characterize solution space
• Explore feasible concepts
• Generate early cost and schedule projections for the project
• Propose viable solutions

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Development Stage
• Define and refine system requirements :
• Business and mission needs
• Stakeholder requirements
• Production, training, and support facilities Requirements
• Create solution description (architecture and design)
• Specify, test, and evaluate elements and interfaces
• System analyses for system balance and optimize key design parameters
• Implement initial system
• Integrate, verify, and validate system

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Production Stage
• Produce systems from specifications
• Product modifications to resolve production problems
• Inspect and verify
• Changes require SE assessment for approval

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Utilization Stage
• Operate system to satisfy users’ needs
• Product modifications (upgrades) enhance system capabilities
• SE ensure smooth integration with the operational system

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Support Stage
• Provide sustained system capability as specified
• Modifications resolve supportability problems
• Reduce operational costs
• Extend the life of a system
• SE assessment to avoid loss of system capabilities operation

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Retirement Stage
• Store, archive, or dispose of the system as specified
• Ensure that disposal requirements are satisfied
• System developer is accountable for proper end-of-life disposal of the system

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Lifecycle Processes

(https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Systems_Engineering)
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Life-cycle Aspects
• Consists of business case,
budget, and technical
product aspects
• SE creates technical
solutions consistent with the
business case and the
funding constraints

(INCOSE SE Handbook, 2015)

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Decision Gates
• Control gates, milestones or reviews to manage risks
• Entry and exit criteria
• Approval event at major decision points in the system life-cycle
• New activities are not pursued until previous activities are satisfactorily
completed and placed under configuration control
• Decision gates address the following questions:
• Does the project deliverable still satisfy the business case?
• Is it affordable?
• Can it be delivered when needed?

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Life-cycle Approaches/Models
• Define the start, stop, and activities appropriate to life-cycle stages
• Graphics of life-cycle stages tend to be linear
• Hide incremental, iterative, and recursive nature of underlying processes
• Iteration and recursion of life cycle processes with feedback loops
• Iteration is repeated interaction between two or more processes at a given level in
the system structure or hierarchy
• Recursion is repeated interaction of processes at successive levels in the system
structure

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Sequential Life-cycle Approaches
• Provide discipline on projects to coordinate large teams of people
• Systematic approach from requirements through design to finished product
• Focus on:
• Completeness of documentation
• Traceability from requirements
• Verification of each representation
• Strengths are:
• Predictability
• Stability
• Repeatability
• High assurance

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Vee model (Forsberg and Mooz 1991)
Understand User
Demonstrate and
Requirements. Develop
Validate System to User
System Concept.

Integrate System and

Develop System
Perform System
Specification
Verification

Expand Specifications Assemble Items and

into Item Specifications Perform Verification

Evolve “Design to”

Inspect Build to
Specifications into “Build
Documentation
to” Documantation

Fabricate and Assemble “Build to”

(INCOSE SE Handbook, 2015) Documentation
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Incremental and Iterative Life-cycle Approaches
• In use since the 1960s
• Provide initial capability
• Successive deliveries to achieve the desired SOI
• Provide rapid value and responsiveness
• Requirements are unclear at the start
• Stakeholder hold SOI open to possible use of new technology
• Candidate SOI developed from initial set of assumptions
• Determine if it meets the stakeholder needs or requirements
• Best applied to smaller, less complex systems or system elements

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Incremental and Iterative Life-cycle Approaches

(INCOSE SE Handbook, 2015)

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Life-cycle Tailoring
• Project goal shapes scope and organizational level of process
• Business strategy determines approach and setting the priorities:
• Profitability
• Time to market
• Minimum cost
• Higher quality
• Customer satisfaction
• Continuously document, define, measure, analyse, assess, compare, and
change processes to meet project goals

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Generic Life‐Cycle “Variables”
• Problem to solution journey
• Problem, Requirements, Functions, Designs, Products…. Operational Capability etc.
• Investment towards ROI
• Uncertainty towards Certainty
• High Risk to acceptable risk (technology, time, money)
• Resolution and category of business
• Integrator vs. Manufacturer

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Take Aways from this Session
• A system consists of interacting parts within a boundary to satisfy
stakeholder requirements
• Systems can become complex under certain conditions
• A system have a life-cycle
• Tailored to the context of the system
• Implementing a system requires a process
• System follows Function follows Purpose

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References
• Walden D, Roedler G, Forsberg K, Hamelin R, Shortell T. 2015. INCOSE
Systems Engineering Handbook. 4th ed. Hoboken: Wiley.
• Thaba, M., 2017. Technology support for military capability based
acquisition.

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