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6.4.1 Creating Flexible Architectures for Systems Engineering
Author(s) -
Hause Matthew,
Thom Francis
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2004.tb00571.x
Subject(s) - unified modeling language , computer science , reuse , software engineering , documentation , systems engineering , systems modeling language , component (thermodynamics) , process (computing) , cohesion (chemistry) , modeling language , engineering , programming language , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , software , thermodynamics , waste management
Systems Engineers have been modeling systems since the inception of the discipline. Reasons for modeling systems include among others: definition of the work to be done (requirements), allocation of responsibilities, documentation of the completed system, and communication with the various disciplines who will create, operate, and maintain the system. UML (the Unified Modeling Language) has recently been used by Systems Engineers to model systems. Many papers and articles have been written on various aspects of systems modeling with UML, most especially Use Cases, but little attention has been paid to system partitioning. Papers that address system partitioning do so with a “one size fits all” philosophy, by mandating a prescriptive structure that does not address the true needs of a particular system's development. Unfortunately, a badly partitioned system can be a serious handicap to the development of a system. The drivers for system partitioning include: process, product, team makeup, areas of interest, standards, physical boundaries of the system, legacy and COTS components, coupling and cohesion. A proper approach can also help in the establishment of a component based development approach, leading to reuse of requirements, design, test, and implementation artifacts. This paper will discuss these issues and illustrate their use by four case studies drawn from experience in consultation. Finally, it will give advice on lessons learned.