TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter introduces some of the related disciplines that will interact with systems engineering efforts during the course of a normal project. Particular attention is given to the project-management discipline, as systems engineering is seen as being subordinate to project management in most projects.
This chapter is not intended to treat any of the related disciplines in a comprehensive manner. Each discipline is a large subject area in itself. Rather, the intention is to show how each of the major disciplines is related to systems engineering.
Project management is an extremely large discipline that is documented comprehensively in a range of texts elsewhere. The detail is not replicated here, however. This section aims to introduce the discipline of project management and to detail the strong relationship between systems engineering and project management.
The strong relationship exists between systems engineering and project management primarily because every technical decision made as part of the systems engineering processes has an impact on the project management and vice versa. One way to introduce project management and investigate its relationship with systems engineering is to investigate the nine project management knowledge areas as defined in the PMBOK [1]. The PMBOK uses the same system life cycle described in this text. A summary of the following nine project management knowledge areas detailed in the PMBOK is provided in the following paragraphs.
Integration management ensures that all elements of the project are properly integrated and coordinated. The coordination involves making...
