TABLE OF CONTENTS O world! world! thus is the poor agent despised. O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a-work, and how ill requited! Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance so loathed?
Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare, 1564-1611.
Delivered systems that are in operation may be the subject of systems engineering. There are many systems engineers in such industries as air transport, railways, and military operations. The concern for operational systems engineers at level 2 is not only the initial creation of the operational system per se, but also the creation of complementary systems to support and enhance the operational system. Operational systems engineering is disregarded by some as unimportant, irrelevant, and not really systems engineering. They could not be more wrong.
In Figure 13.1, the operational system is seen at the focus of systems to train its operators and crews, and of systems to maintain, service, modify, and upgrade the operational technology through life. Without these complementary systems, the operational system will cease to operate. Establishing this network of supporting and enabling systems is the role of operational systems engineering. Managing, maintaining, and improving this network are essential to the longevity of the operational system, and to its effectiveness.
Maintaining the status quo is not systems engineering; instead, systems engineering is changing systems such...
