Systems Engineering Glossary

Software.  Very few modern systems are just hardware without any software components.

Specification.  A specification contains the functional, performance and verification requirements of a system as well as a description of interfaces and constraints.

Specification Tree.  A specification tree provides a hierarchical description of the various specifications for a systems development as part of a systems engineering process.

Spiral Development Model.  The spiral development model is an iterative process for the development of a system specification, either as a complete specification, or as a specification of an increment within an evolutionary acquisition model.

Stakeholder.  A stakeholder is defined by most of the standards as an enterprise, organisation or individual having an interest or a stake in the outcome of the systems engineering process.

Standard.  A standard is document, developed by a regulatory authority or by consensus of experts, that establishes requirements and provides guidelines for processes and products.

Statement Of Work (SOW).  A Statement of Work (SOW) details the work that is required to be completed as part of a contract.

States And Modes.  States refers to the conditions that characterise the behaviour of a function or element of the system at a particular point in time.

Subcontractor.  The acquisition element of the customer organisation will invariably complete the Conceptual Design and outsource the remaining Acquisition Phase activities to a prime contractor.

Subsystem.  A subsystem is a grouping of items that perform a selected set of functions as a subset of the functions performed by the system's end product.

Supplier.  A supplier provides a product or a group of products to the acquirer.

Supportability.  Supportability refers to the ease with which an operational system can be supported in a logistics and manpower sense.

System.  A system is a complex set of parts that come together to serve a common purpose.

System Architects.  System architects conduct the design to develop a system (normally functional) architecture.

System Architecture.  The system architecture is the collection and relationship of the components that make up the system.

System Design.  System design is the process by which solutions to users requirements can be defined, selected and described.

System Design Review (SDR).  The System Design Review is conducted at the end of Conceptual Design to evaluate the system-level design to determine its ability to meet the system-level requirements.

System Qualification Review (SQR).  The System Qualification Review confirms the functional performance of the system once integration has occurred at the end of Construction and/or Production.

System Requirements Review (SRR).  A System Requirements Review is one of a number of such reviews conducted periodically during Conceptual Design to verify and approve sets of system-level requirements as they are developed.

System Specification.  The System Specification is produced by the Conceptual Design process of the systems engineering lifecycle and forms the basis of the Functional Baseline.

Systems Engineering (SE).  Systems engineering started to emerge as a formal discipline in the 1950s, primarily driven by the US DoD programs of the era.

Systems Engineering Detailed Schedule (SEDS).  The Systems Engineering Detailed Schedule (SEDS) is a detailed schedule of the work required to accomplish the complete technical systems engineering effort required to develop the system.

Systems Engineering Management.  Systems engineering management encompasses all those activities associated with the management of the systems engineering process implemented to deliver the system.

Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP).  The Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) is developed to articulate all of the various aspects of systems engineering management, including risk management, technical reviews and audits, configuration management, test and evaluation, and so on.

Systems Engineering Master Schedule (SEMS).  The Systems Engineering Master Schedule (SEMS) provides a list of the key technical events that must be accomplished for successful systems development.

Systems Engineering Process.  The Systems Engineering Process is an iterative problem solving process based on the fundamental cycle of analyse-synthesise-evaluate.

Systems Engineering Tools.  Systems engineering tools are those tools that support systems engineering processes and systems engineering management.

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