SE Process Guides

Follow a project through a systems engineering process and see, phase by phase, what the model already shows and what is still open. Choose one of several processes; the descriptions and checks are Holarch's own.

Where to find it

• In the navigation rail: Plan & Deliver → SE Process.

Main actions

• Use This Process turns the guide on for the project with the process selected in the list. The process, the current phase and ticked checks are saved with the project and shared with its members. Undo reverses it.
• Process (life-cycle card) switches to another process. Each process keeps its own phase, ticks and gates, so switching back restores them. One undo step.
• Life cycle: click a phase to see its checks; the percentage is the share of checks done, including review criteria. Make Current Phase marks where the project is.
• Checks: each shows ✓ (done), ◐ (partly done) or ○ (not started) with a count, such as 3 of 5 needs traced, and Open goes to the page where the work happens (Requirements, Quality, Traceability Matrix, Functional Analysis, Interface Register, RVTMRequirements Verification Traceability Matrix A table of each requirement with how it is verified, the tests that verify it and their latest result., Test Center, Risk Register and others). Checks from the model update as you edit. Items the model cannot show have a checkbox; ticking one records who and when.
• Reviews and gates: Add Gate Milestone creates a Time entity labeled Milestone (it shows on the Project Management calendar). Create Review Package creates a Compilation with the gate's documents. Processes with named reviews list each review with its entry criteria.
• Templates: Documents → + New Document offers Needs Analysis, Concept Exploration and Concept Definition documents.
• Stop Using removes the process, phase, ticked checks and gate links. Milestones, packages and documents stay.

Processes

Kossiakoff SE method. Three stages in eight phases. Concept development: needs analysis, concept exploration, concept definition. Engineering development: advanced development, engineering design, integration and evaluation. Post-development: production, operation and support. In every phase the same four steps repeat: requirements analysis, functional definition, physical definition and design validation. Each phase has one gate review. Based on Kossiakoff et al., Systems Engineering Principles and Practice.

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288. Six stages: concept, development, production, utilization, support and retirement. Each stage lists the technical processes that apply there (business or mission analysis through disposal), then the technical management processes (project planning, assessment and control, decision, risk, configuration and information management, measurement, quality assurance). Each stage ends at a decision gate. Based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023, Systems and software engineering — System life cycle processes.

NASA project life cycle. Pre-Phase A (concept studies) and Phases A to F, from concept and technology development to closeout, each ending at a key decision point (KDP A to KDP F). Life-cycle reviews (MCR, SRRSystem Requirements Review A milestone review that confirms the system requirements are complete and agreed before design starts., MDR/SDR, PDRPreliminary Design Review A milestone review that confirms the preliminary design meets the requirements and is ready for detailed design., CDRCritical Design Review A milestone review that confirms the detailed design is complete and ready to build and test., SIR, TRR, SAR, ORR, FRR, PLAR, DR, DRR) list entry criteria; the cards are the 17 common technical processes. Based on NPR 7123.1, NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements and NASA/SP-2016-6105 Rev2, NASA Systems Engineering Handbook.

DoDDepartment of Defense The US Department of Defense. acquisition life cycle. Five phases: materiel solution analysis, technology maturation and risk reduction, engineering and manufacturing development, production and deployment, operations and support, with Milestones A, B and C. Technical reviews and audits (ASR, SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, SVR/FCA, PRR, PCA) list entry and exit criteria. The cards are the eight technical and eight technical management processes. Based on the DoD Systems Engineering Guidebook (2022) and DAU guidance, with review names and sequence as in IEEE 15288.2.

MIL-STD-499B process loop. The systems engineering process repeated in each acquisition phase of that standard: requirements analysis, functional analysis and allocation, synthesis, and systems analysis and control, with the requirements loop, the design loop and verification as their own cards. Based on MIL-STD-499B (draft, 1994), Systems Engineering.

Vee model. Concept of operations, system requirements, high-level and detailed design down the left side; implementation at the bottom; unit, subsystem and system verification, validation and operations up the right side. Verification links show how far each right-side phase has checked its left-side counterpart. Based on the Vee model as commonly taught.

Tips

• Record needs as Statements and trace them to requirements with traced to: the needs checks count those links.
• Turning a guide on changes nothing in the model; it only reads it.

Related

Review Packages · Project Management · Documents · Trade Studies · RVTM