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Systems Integration Management
products or services relies on the plan-driven strategy. It is effective most of
the time. Repair people work on networks, products are manufactured, services are provided, upgrades are installed, and routine operations are brought
together with commonplace and habitual practices. However, for products and
services that require systems engineering techniques and management, systems integration is fraught with difficulties and confounding predicaments.
It might seem troubling to learn that on some of the smaller systems engineering projects, integration plans are considered optional; for the larger
more complex projects, integration plans are prepared as a matter of contractual obligation. One should expect these integration plans to be well thought
out and rationally prepared (“because it is not the plan that is important; it is
the process of planning”). However, in terms of overall planning effort, the
integration plans only lightly reflect the expectations of the planners. The
widely held belief with large integration efforts presumes significant delays
due to uncompleted developments on components and subsystems. The
integration plan is based on design documents, architecture, and best-case
scenario sequencing of components and subsystems. The integration plan is
notionally a plan, but most often laid down without the capability of management, systems engineering, and engineering to be able to achieve what is
laid down. Instead, the integration plan needs to represent the extent of
human activity that is organized to perform certain tasks at certain times,
following specified procedures that are derived from policies and rules,
resulting in a model or representation of the formative acts of cognition
(used to think about the plan and planning) and the physical and intellectual
portrayal of both the acts of cognition and the human activities that carry
out the procedures envisioned by the cognitive acts. These physical and
intellectual representations are the best efforts to match the cognitive and
procedural acts. Representations (or models) are the paper drawings, the
planning document, the written procedures, the reports on the activities,
the schematics and specifications that will guide the work from which the
physical entities will be built, the presentations, and all that is corporeal
concerning cognitive and procedural activities. In the integration framework, this discussion is captured as the subjective frame. The integration
plan is thought of, written, and presented in a tangible form (e.g., paper,
digital account, or in various formats for presentation). The process of planning is fundamental to project management and absolutely fundamental to
systems integration.
Recursive Nature of Systems Integration
Planning is a periodic, recursive process. As such, the results of planning for
integration must necessarily be recursive. If something is objectively true,
Systems Integration Management
products or services relies on the plan-driven strategy. It is effective most of
the time. Repair people work on networks, products are manufactured, services are provided, upgrades are installed, and routine operations are brought
together with commonplace and habitual practices. However, for products and
services that require systems engineering techniques and management, systems integration is fraught with difficulties and confounding predicaments.
It might seem troubling to learn that on some of the smaller systems engineering projects, integration plans are considered optional; for the larger
more complex projects, integration plans are prepared as a matter of contractual obligation. One should expect these integration plans to be well thought
out and rationally prepared (“because it is not the plan that is important; it is
the process of planning”). However, in terms of overall planning effort, the
integration plans only lightly reflect the expectations of the planners. The
widely held belief with large integration efforts presumes significant delays
due to uncompleted developments on components and subsystems. The
integration plan is based on design documents, architecture, and best-case
scenario sequencing of components and subsystems. The integration plan is
notionally a plan, but most often laid down without the capability of management, systems engineering, and engineering to be able to achieve what is
laid down. Instead, the integration plan needs to represent the extent of
human activity that is organized to perform certain tasks at certain times,
following specified procedures that are derived from policies and rules,
resulting in a model or representation of the formative acts of cognition
(used to think about the plan and planning) and the physical and intellectual
portrayal of both the acts of cognition and the human activities that carry
out the procedures envisioned by the cognitive acts. These physical and
intellectual representations are the best efforts to match the cognitive and
procedural acts. Representations (or models) are the paper drawings, the
planning document, the written procedures, the reports on the activities,
the schematics and specifications that will guide the work from which the
physical entities will be built, the presentations, and all that is corporeal
concerning cognitive and procedural activities. In the integration framework, this discussion is captured as the subjective frame. The integration
plan is thought of, written, and presented in a tangible form (e.g., paper,
digital account, or in various formats for presentation). The process of planning is fundamental to project management and absolutely fundamental to
systems integration.
Recursive Nature of Systems Integration
Planning is a periodic, recursive process. As such, the results of planning for
integration must necessarily be recursive. If something is objectively true,