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Key concepts in modeling product development processes
Author(s) -
Browning Tyson R.,
Fricke Ernst,
Negele Herbert
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
systems engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.474
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1520-6858
pISSN - 1098-1241
DOI - 10.1002/sys.20047
Subject(s) - computer science , new product development , process management , process (computing) , variety (cybernetics) , process modeling , systems engineering , key (lock) , product (mathematics) , management science , engineering , work in process , operations management , business , marketing , artificial intelligence , operating system , geometry , computer security , mathematics
This paper provides a foundation for modeling the set of activities and their relationships by which systems are engineered, or, more broadly, by which products and services are developed. It provides background, motivations, and formal definitions for process modeling in this specialized environment. We treat the process itself as a kind of system that can be engineered. However, while product systems must be created, the process systems for developing complex products must, to a greater extent, be discovered and induced. Then, they tend to be reused, either formally as standard processes, or informally by the workforce. We distinguish and clarify several important concepts in modeling processes, including: product development versus repetitive business processes, descriptive versus prescriptive processes, activities as actions versus deliverables as interactions, standard versus deployed processes, centralized versus decentralized process modeling, “as is” versus “to be” process modeling, and multiple phases in product development. We also present a basically simple yet highly extendable and generalized framework for modeling product development processes. The framework enables building a single model to support a variety of purposes, including project planning (scheduling, budgeting, resource loading, and risk management) and control, and it provides the scaffolding for knowledge management and organizational learning, among numerous other uses. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 9: 104–128, 2006