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Can MIL‐STD‐499B Be Adapted for Resource Management and Saving the Environment?
Author(s) -
Martin Frederick,
Daetz Douglas
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1993.tb01622.x
Subject(s) - natural resource , business , politics , population , environmental resource management , economics , political science , sociology , demography , law
Management of resources and the environment is increasingly prominent in the national and global debates on policy. In the U.S. resources and the environment involve a broad range of national policy issues with complex tradeoffs: forest management to maximize yield and maintain biodiversity; alternative fuels for power plants that must meet the requirements for environmental protection, pollution control, performance and community acceptance; allocation of water, a resource in short supply in the southwest. At the local government level, there are local issues such as: locating a new municipal golf course in a county boasting a unique combination of natural environment, agriculture, sophisticated suburban population and a thriving commerce; designing and implementing local welfare assistance programs in a climate of opposition to new taxes. On a global scale, the World Bank announced that all future projects funded by it will be fully examined for their impact on the environment. In the political arena almost none of these issues are heading towards a rational solution, and for most of them there is only a vague definition of the problem. These issues are a system engineer's nightmare (or challenge)! Why? Unlike the traditional Department of Defense programs with well specified systems, the issues of resources and the environment touch many subsystems in a large, multivariable environment. Many of the variables, e.g., those associated with the weather, national economy, business climate, and international political situation are largely or completely beyond the control or influence of the planners, architects, and engineers. The professional must carry out the task of building a successful project in an environment of extreme uncertainty and limited control. In this paper we examine the features of MIL‐STD‐499B to see how they could be applied to managing resources and the environment for a project that is a subsystem embedded in a very uncertain environment. We shall look at the process of identifying the problem to be solved and establishing the interfaces of the subsystem to the larger world systems. We also consider how to deal with the life‐cycle issues. For example, can one define the life‐cycle process for a golf course? Finally, we shall pose the following dilemma. Resource management as practiced by the former Soviet Union and its satellites has proven to be a failure. Is system engineering for resource and environmental management a paradox or a panacea in a democratic, free‐market society?