Product Description

An easy-to-use, comprehensive guide to systems engineering methods.

Systems engineering (SE), or the engineering of large-scale systems, is key to achieving reliable, efficient, cost-effective products and services in diverse fields, including communication and network systems, software engineering, information systems, manufacturing, command and control, and defense systems acquisition and procurement. This book offers a unique introduction to the world of systems engineering, focusing on analysis and problem-solving techniques that can be applied throughout the life cycle of product systems and service systems. While the authors provide a framework for the functional levels involved in systems engineering processes and system management, the bulk of the discussion is devoted to the practical application of formulation, analysis, and interpretation methods.

Through the use of real-world examples and useful graphs, readers will learn to:

• Choose the most appropriate methods and tools for a given project
• Apply issue formulation methods to assure that the right problem has been identified
• Work with formal analysis methods to assure that the problem is solved correctly
• Apply issue interpretation methods to insure that decisions reflect human values and technological realities, and thereby make interpretation work for them in the decision-making process
• Develop an appreciation for the engineering and troubleshooting of large systems

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55366 in eBooks
• Published on: 2000-03-27
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

Review
"...comprehensive summary and teaching tool...Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduate engineering students, graduate students in related fields, and practitioners." -- Choice, Vol. 38, No. 8, April 2001

From the Back Cover
An easy-to-use, comprehensive guide to systems engineering methods.

Systems engineering (SE), or the engineering of large-scale systems, is key to achieving reliable, efficient, cost-effective products and services in diverse fields, including communication and network systems, software engineering, information systems, manufacturing, command and control, and defense systems acquisition and procurement. This book offers a unique introduction to the world of systems engineering, focusing on analysis and problem-solving techniques that can be applied throughout the life cycle of product systems and service systems. While the authors provide a framework for the functional levels involved in systems engineering processes and system management, the bulk of the discussion is devoted to the practical application of formulation, analysis, and interpretation methods.

Through the use of real-world examples and useful graphs, readers will learn to:Choose the most appropriate methods and tools for a given projectApply issue formulation methods to assure that the right problem has been identifiedWork with formal analysis methods to assure that the problem is solved correctlyApply issue interpretation methods to insure that decisions reflect human values and technological realities, and thereby make interpretation work for them in the decision-making processDevelop an appreciation for the engineering and troubleshooting of large systems

About the Author
ANDREW P. SAGE, PhD, Purdue University, is University Professor and First American Bank Professor in the School of Information Technology at George Mason University.

JAMES E. ARMSTRONG JR., PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology, is Professor in the Department of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Customer Reviews

sage is the gold standard for SE
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Andy Sage is the gold standard for SE.
As a fellow of INCOSE he clearly knows SE.

His classes are always informative and up to date.
He is currently working on the cutting edge of Systems Architecture. We can only hope that his notes, which are locked behind GMUs firewall and webct, will be turned into a book.

He edited the Handbook of SE as well as editing the incose journal. If he says it, you can take it to the bank.

Unfortunately this book is 6 years old now and Armstrong is not in Sage's league, but Andy can turn anyone's drafts into good material. So while good, the weakness is that this book does not reflect the changing view and emphasis of SE.

This is not to fault Professor Sage, but merely reflects the fact that even incose cannot agree on what SE is, and that the govt which drives most of SE efforts keeps changing their emphasis. incose even keeps rewriting their handbook as the internal power struggles bring to power different groups with different views of what SE is.

The dirty truth is that there are NO good SE books. There are a lot of books on SE that have some good stuff in them but none does the job right and/or is up to date enough.

Should you read this book. Probably yes. Along with several others, and then extract your own summary of what is pertinent as most of them have way too much filler and wander off into detailed areas of interest only to the authors.

There are a lot of handbooks and reference materials on the web, mostly from govt sites. Some has some excellent content, many are grossly out of date or totally spurious. Especially the OF material from professors at universities who have not kept up to date and still promulgate their 40 year old ideas. Put all together there is a lot fo good info on SE somewhere out there. We can only hope that someone of Sage's ability will finally put it all together. Dr. Sage is probably getting too old to address this and also his current efforts on systems Architecture. Jim Long has promised a good intro book and he is one person that could pull it off well. But he seems to always have a higher priority alligator nipping at him.

If the IEEE were to get serious about systems as the keystone to making software work right then they might be able to sponsor a good reference book. That will likely be some years in the future.

KISS
Quiz time:
You have 60 seconds to determine what the following sentence means:

"Systems engineering processes should support operational product functionality, revisability, and transitioning, both at the initial time of operational implementation and later at the time that a system is phased out of service or retired, or reengineered for continued productivity and use."

Times up. If you took more than 60 seconds in my shop, you're fired. Halfway through this sentence I would have realized that my time would have been wasted, and I would have moved on. NO ONE in the engineering world should be caught writing such unintelligable gobbledegook. This sentence nailed it for me - I WON'T be pursuing a Masters in "Engineering Management" (largely consisting of 'systems engineering')- my application to ODU is in the trash...

Now, to be fair, there is value in understanding the necessity of managing methods and tools for large scale systems development, but not at the expense of the English language and good old fashioned simplicity. I would have said:

"From conception to obsolescence, your tools for a product's management had better work and/or improve, or else, .