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2.1.3 Functional Analysis for Existing Products: a Detailed Procedure
Author(s) -
Lentz V. A.,
Lerner Bruce
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2002.tb02441.x
Subject(s) - functional decomposition , computer science , modular design , function (biology) , product (mathematics) , documentation , functional requirement , identification (biology) , domain (mathematical analysis) , functional design , new product development , software engineering , systems engineering , engineering , programming language , mathematics , mathematical analysis , botany , geometry , marketing , business , biology , evolutionary biology , machine learning
Functional Analysis (FA) for regenerative systems is often executed as reverse engineering or design recovery. The initial product developer completed the Functional Analysis, and minimal updates were required or took place as the product evolved. The working definition of a function has often become ambiguous. When the goal is to reify what the product / system does, Functional Analysis is one method to be used in conjunction with the identification of the scenarios to support a system decomposition to discover underlying functions. The scenarios identify how the system / product is used by external systems (a human or other man‐made system) and FA helps to expose the system behaviors that are required to support that use, and the functions that are required to support that behavior. The value of functional analysis is the yield of the main and derived functions of the system / product, which are the solution independent functions. The separation of the domain functions from the subsequently developed implementation functions (those required to provide a design dependent capability) facilitates the insertion of technology and management of change. The transition of the modular product structure Adifon [ADI2001] from the Phase 1 team to the on‐going implementation required the clarification and documentation of a procedure for Functional Analysis. The generic part of that procedure is described here with templates and detailed ‘user’ instructions.