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Development Projects Problem areas
The literature contains many references to the fact that system development projects, particularly in the defence industry, very often suffer from cost and schedule overruns, (Christensen 1998), (Smirnoff 2006). To date, not all the causes for these overruns have been identified. It is commonly presumed that a “rubber” baseline is the main cause for project cost and schedule overruns. However, studies by Christensen et al, (1998), on the performance of development projects for military systems, found that other factors must also be influencing development project cost and schedule overruns.
Design as part of systems engineering is an iterative and dynamic process. The history of the iterative and incremental development process is discussed by Larman et al, (2003). Although the systems engineering process has been very well structured and refined over the years, it still remains to a certain extent an unpredictable process.
A consequence of this is that changes to a subsystem or component of the system can occur at any stage of the process, often during the system integration stages. During the system integration phases, very often a latent design defect of a system component surfaces. This may force a corrective design change to the affected component to overcome the problem.
In order to reduce development time, integrated complex multicomponent systems are developed in a concurrent engineering environment. This entails components and subsystems being developed in parallel, and subsequently integrated into higher level subsystems until the final system integration. The development of a multi-component, multi-disciplinary system generally entails the development of individual system components by different development teams. The development teams may be in-house or outside companies depending on the skills and facilities required.
The accepted process for the development of new systems is the documented Systems Engineering process by INCOSE, (2010) and NASA (2007). Both state that a design is successively refined until it is mature and acceptable for further integration into the system.
The impact of an unexpected design change is exacerbated in a concurrent engineering environment where system components are being developed concurrently during the development of multicomponent systems.
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Development Projects Problem areas
1.2 Concepts and Definitions
1.3 Systems Engineering and Project Management Articles
1.4 Problem Statement
1.5 Research Objectives .
1.6 Research Contributions
1.7 Research Questions
1.8 Research Roadmap
1.9 Chapter Summary .
Chapter 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Discussion of Research and Analysis Method
2.1.1 Exploratory Research
2.1.2 Empirical Research
2.1.3 Constructive Research .
2.2 Selection of Research Methods
2.3 Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
2.4 Chapter Summary
Chapter 3 SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND .
3.1 System
3.1.1 Characteristics and Properties of a System
3.1.2 System dynamics
3.2 Systems Engineering
3.3 Systems Engineering Process
3.3.1 Systems Engineering Outputs and Summary
3.4 Project Management
3.5 Matrix Organisational Structure
3.6 Design Influencing
3.6.1 Success Domain Team (SD)
3.6.2 Failure Domain Team (FD)
3.6.3 Project Management Team (PM)
3.7 Chapter Summary
Chapter 4 BACKGROUND TO THE CASE-STUDY
4.1 Purpose and Outline of the Chapter .
4.2 Background of Armour and Anti-Tank Weapons Systems
4.3 Scope of the Case-study .
4.4 Introduction to Anti-Tank Missile Systems .
4.5 Evolution of Anti-Tank Weapons Systems
4.5.1 First Generation Anti-Tank Missile Systems
4.5.2 Second Generation Anti-Tank Missile Systems
4.5.3 Third Generation Anti-Tank Missile Systems
4.6 User Requirements Background .
4.7 Ingwe Missile Description .
4.8 User Requirements
4.9 Primary Constraints Invoked by the Client
4.10 Contract Overview .
4.11 Project Management model
4.12 Contractor’s Management Model
4.13 Introduction to the Case-study Summary .
Chapter 5 CASE-STUDY .
5.1 Purpose and Outline of the Chapter
5.2 Development Model and Development Process
5.3 Development Project Objectives .
5.5 Systems Engineering Process Selection .
5.6 Development Project Logistics Engineering Process
5.7 System Hand-Over
5.8 Chapter Summary
Chapter 6 PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED AND LESSONS LEARNED .
Chapter 7 ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Chapter 8 EVALUATION OF STRUCTURED DESIGN .
Chapter 9 CONCLUSIONS
References
Apendix A System Dynamics .
Apendix B Problems experienced
Apendix C Design Iteration Impact Study
Apendix D Revised Problems experienced using AD .
