Analyzing Logistics Management and Operations

Logistics Management and Operations

Systems Engineering Process

The term systems engineering was coined in the early fifties within military circles. It denoted mega defense systems that were used by the United States military at that time. However, the field has grown into a major discipline that covers almost every form of project development. Whether one is constructing a house, developing an electronic device or initiating a complex transport logistics system, system engineering is one of the key things that be utilized. Though there is no single definition that captures everything that system engineering is, there is one thing that scholars agree with: that it is a multidisciplinary means and model to realizing effective systems (Ryen, 2008; INCOSE, 2016). One of the things that have made systems engineering a successful systems development model is the fact that it defines the required functionality / customer needs in the very first stages of systems development. The process then normally moves to documenting these requirements and then conducting a design synthesis and later, a systems validation is done by looking at the whole problem.

Systems engineering merges individuals from different specialties and professions into a team and then focuses the team effort on an organized development system (Ryen, 2008). Systems engineering integrates not only the technical, but also the business needs to the customers with the objective, producing a quality end product. It is interesting to note the broadness of the definition, i.e. systems development covers the entire systems development process from the definition of needs to the delivery of a complete, functioning system. It entails technical aspects such as definition of requirements and design and also the definition of project activities such as configuration management and risk management (Ryen, 2008).

A perfectly executed SEP (systems engineering process) involves a thorough, repetitive and recursive solution-finding process, that is applied systematically in an organized manner by integrated teams. Such a process transforms the customer's requirements and needs into a list of system process and product descriptions and to get data for decision making (Lightsey, 2001). The SEP is applied in a sequential manner (one level is tackled at one time before going to the next), adding more detail and description of each system development level (AcqNotes, 2016; Lightsey, 2001). SEP has several components, namely: inputs/outputs; functional analysis as well as allocation; requirements loop; requirements analysis; verification; synthesis; design loop; along with system analysis as well as control (Lightsey, 2001). SEP provides additional levels of descriptions of processes and products with each application. The input of all next level SEP applications is the output of the prior SEP level. One of the key elements of systems engineering is logistics engineering (Blanchard, 2004). Other key elements of system engineering are defined below.

The SEP (Lightsey, 2001)

System Life Cycle

A system Life Cycle is a set of steps that the systems development team will have to follow so as to idealize, evaluate, design, build and implement a new computer system. According to Morris (2016), adhering to a predefined system life cycle increases precision, efficiency and significantly reduces the possibility of product failure. The main elements of a system life cycle are:

A figure depicting a system life cycle (Blanchard, 2004)

Needs Definition Stage

At this stage, the aim is to understand the system, the objective of the project and its viability. This phase involves conducting a feasibility study complete with trade-off analyses and requirements analyses (Stasinopoulos, 2009). It also involves the definition of technical details using the client requirement and industry benchmarks (Stasinopoulos, 2009).

Conceptual Design Stage

This stage has one key objective to evaluate and gain a good understanding of what is required in the project and identifying every solution that will be utilized for the system (Stasinopoulos, 2009). It is also at this stage that potential risks are defined for the next phases of this project. The main objective of the conceptual design stage is to find solutions for all the problems identified in the needs definition stage and to generate system ideas for further development. The ideas can be generated through brainstorming, functional analyses and research (Stasinopoulos, 2009).

Preliminary Design Stage

In this stage, the aim is to use the conceptual systems to come up with preliminary systems and then to identify the best preliminary system to continue with the process. This stage involves the construction of physical systems and subsystems (Stasinopoulos, 2009). Finally, this stage involves the definition of technical specifications (Stasinopoulos, 2009).

Detail Design Stage

The objective of this stage is to build the identified preliminary design system (Stasinopoulos, 2009). This is SEP's architectural stage. It entails building the physical aspect of the system and its components. Data flow is developed onto charts and the project team decides on what is the best structure for this.

Construction Stage

In this phase, the plans drafted in the design stage are executed. The system developers build the database, generate code for the flow of data and develop the actual UI (User Interface). It is also in this stage that test data is processed through the system several times so as to refine the code (Beale & Bonometti, 2016). The system is then validated in a sequential manner. The aspects to be validated as the system itself, performance, the integration, and acceptance testing. The objective of this validation is to make sure that the client's needs and requirements are met.

Testing Stage

The aim of this stage is to test all the components of the system to make sure that they are functioning and that their performance is at satisfactory levels. One can also look at the process at this level and think of ways that other components or products that could be integrated into the system. This stage requires user participation so as to make sure that every deliverable is thoroughly tested and that it meets both the technical and business needs (Beale & Bonometti, 2016).