TABLE OF CONTENTS Systems engineering tools are available to assist both the systems engineering management function and the systems engineering processes, as well as assisting related disciplines such as project management. Chapter 6 introduced a number of tools that may assist with systems engineering management and processes. This chapter examines tools to assist in the conduct of systems engineering processes. Some analysis tools have been described in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 this chapter focuses on requirements engineering. Schematics, modeling, and simulation are detailed as tools that can assist the synthesis aspect of the systems engineering processes. Trade-off analysis is also detailed as a potential tool for use during the evaluation stage of the process.
Some analysis tools have been described in Chapters 2, 3, and 4, including the context diagram, FFBD, RBS, and N2 diagrams. Other tools include structured analysis, the data flow diagram, control flow diagram, IDEF diagram, behavior diagram, action diagram, state/mode diagram, process flow diagram, function hierarchy diagram, state transition diagram (STD), entity relationship diagram, structured analysis and design, object-oriented analysis, unified modeling language, structured systems analysis and design (SSADM), and quality function deployment. Each of these techniques focuses on gathering requirements in a formal systematic way, which is normally referred to generically as requirements engineering [1]. We focus on the philosophy of requirements engineering here because it is such an essential element of system development, and we leave the reader to consult the many excellent references for the more detailed tools [2].
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