Identifying Suitable Projects For Rapid Development: Some Proposed Selection Criteria

The use of rapid development techniques allows building high quality systems in short timeframes while reducing project costs and adding flexibility to the development process so it can be easily adapted to meet customer needs in a volatile market. In order to obtain the benefits of implementing rapid development methods, the development organization and the processes utilized need to be congruent with rapid development methodologies and techniques. A problem encountered by product development organizations is how to identify which projects are suitable for the rapid development approach. An extensive academic research about the implementation of rapid development techniques in Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes resulted in the identification of selection criteria for the determination of project suitability for rapid development methods. The selection criteria identified by this research are essential elements that must be present in every rapid development environment in order to obtain the benefits of implementing rapid development techniques

Rapid System Development (Rsd) Methodologies: Proposing a Selection Framework

The current global customer trend requires companies across domains to reduce their product development lifecycle. As a result the exploration of methodologies that will support rapid system development has been gaining importance. The primary focus of this article is to provide a framework for comparative analysis of rapid system development methodologies. The purpose of this framework is to help the project managers and systems engineers choose and tailor an appropriate rapid development methodology to suit their development context and environment. Toward this, the framework identifies and defines a set of critical rapid development attributes. The article redefines rapid system development as adopting methodologies, tools, and techniques that can introduce rapidity into the system development processes while optimizing the success factors of development. The success factors are specific to the system under development and they depend on the system, product line, organization, and customers. Some of the common success factors are return-on-investment (ROI), cost of ownership, other performance factors, and customer satisfaction. The article provides a fundamental discussion on the current rapid system development methodologies, metrics, tools, and techniques

Patterns and Commonalities in Rapid System Development Methodologies

The growing competition and customer needs have called for shorter system development time while embracing the changes and quality challenges. These system development methods, tools, techniques, and practices are collectively known as rapid system development (RSD). This collection is growing and has received significant attention in the current challenging and unprecedented market conditions. The authors upon studying these RSD methods, tools, and techniques identify four basic patterns that address rapidity. These four patterns are iteration (cycle), increment (release, evolution), concurrency, and feedback control. This paper discusses in detail about these four patterns and their benefits

A Systems Approach to Design: Research and Some Results

Abstract. A systems approach to design means designing from a holistic perspective. It is an approach focussed on understanding the functionality for which the system is designed for by keeping the focus on its need, context, and its intended lifecycle. This paper is focused on the need and current challenges of teaching engineering students a systems approach to design. The paper proposes definitions of five core concepts of a systems approach to design. Theses concepts are context, abstraction, trade-off, interdisciplinarity, and value. The paper also includes discussion on the findings of a survey of students and faculty on these fundamental concepts of system design

A Framework for End-to-End Approach to Systems Integration

Systems Integration (SI) is an important element of systems engineering which involves the integration of hardware, software, products, services, business processes, and human. The existing standards, models, and guidelines of Systems Engineering and Software Engineering address SI issues partially and usually view SI from a perspective of integrating physical components. They lack a holistic end-to-end approach to SI. Due to the emerging Systems Engineering challenges and the increasing importance of SI, the need for a holistic approach to SI has become critical. A Systems Integration Framework (SIF) was developed that incorporates the relevant aspects of integration from a lifecycle perspective and sets a foundation to an end-to-end approach to SI

A Framework for Requirements Engineering Method Selection

There are many requirements engineering (RE) methods that assist in elicitation, analysis and management of requirements. Each providing benefits enabling teams to control the inefficiencies associated with the application of a \u27one size fits all\u27 process. In a time-to-market driven (or rapid) development environment the challenges of applying these methods to system requirements management is extremely complex. This paper provides a comparative analysis of some common RE methods based on the IEEE 1233 standard. IEEE 1233 was selected in presenting this methodology since it provides excellent guidance in developing requirements and as a result strengthens the most crucial aspects of the frontend of system development. In this paper, the authors have proposed a framework called \u27Eff-REM QChar\u27 (an effective RE method framework based on quality requirement characteristics) for selection of the RE method best suited for the development situation and environmental constraints

Evolving Role of Business Process Reengineering: A Perspective of Employers

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze and illustrate the needs and expectations of the industry from a newly hired engineering candidate for an entry-level position involving business process reengineering (BPR). The paper aims to highlight the changing role and the new emerging face of business process design, analysis, and management, its relevant contents and methodologies, its new role, and emergence of a value of BPR, which has been redefined. Design/methodology/approach - The growing interest and the importance of the role of business processes in organizations have promoted the development and implementation of an undergraduate level course on BPR at Stevens Institute in 2006. This research involved a survey of some potential employers during a recent redesigning of this course. The survey collected information from the employers on how important and relevant are the topics on BPR that are covered in the course for an entry-level BPR related position. Findings - The findings indicate a strong support from the employers for BPR curriculum. Of the 19 BPR topics on which information was collected from the employers, 63 percent were rated as extremely important and very important . The two highest rated areas of BPR were ability to research and collect process related data (3.8), and ability to use graphical methods to map the current or reengineered processes (3.5). Research limitations/implications - One of the limitations of this research is the size and representation of the data collected. A more broader sample would extend this work into a framework for BPR skill set and knowledge at various levels of experience. Practical implications - The implications of this research are to both the academic community and potential employers. This paper provides useful knowledge on what skill sets are relevant for an entry level BPR professional in an economy, which is predominantly going to be dependent on efficiencies from business processes. Originality/value - The paper provides value to those seeking entry-level positions in terms of the knowledge and skill sets required to fulfill such a role effectively. The paper also provides guidance to faculty on areas needed to focus on in a BPR curriculum content and pedagogy and prepare students for practical situations. With the increasing role of service orientation in managing information systems -the importance of business process definitions and their reengineering cannot be undermined

Designing a Course On Business Process Reengineering (BPR)Bridging the Gap Between Business Operations and Engineering of Systems

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a systematic approach to helping an organization analyze and improve its processes. All systems are designed, developed and engineered to support business processes. Therefore, an understanding of the business processes for engineering students is crucial to choosing how to build and manage systems. BPR was an important activity 1990s and there is a dramatic re-emergence of organizations\u27 interest in the topic1. At Stevens Institute of Technology we, at the under graduate program in Engineering Management felt the need to provide our students the bridge between the design and engineering of systems and business operations. As a result, the primary author was involved in the design, development, and now, the teaching of this course in the senior year. This paper will share the experiences of the author in designing such a course, its relevance to the engineering management undergraduate students, and future benefits to the potential employers of these undergraduate students. The course was offered in the Fall of 2006 for first time to the senior year Engineering Management students. Business Process Reengineering targets to achieve quantum improvements by rethinking and redesigning the way that business processes are carried out with the help of information technology (IT) as the primary facilitator. To remain competitive in today\u27s global economy, there is an urgent need to rethink and transform the existing business processes for improved quality and efficiency, reduced costs, and increased profitability. This provides an opportunity to view the organization-wide processes from a systems perspective. A systems perspective focuses on looking at a set of problems as a whole and the context that creates the holistic view rather than looking at a set of problems as individually isolated events. The course called Business Process Reengineering - EM435 at Stevens is specially tailored to this need; it provides knowledge about BPR and its main concepts, the technologies and the strategies for implementing business transformation, and best practices on BPR. It emphasizes the role of BPR in managing technology and the engineering functions. The course covers the strategic, operational and technological aspects of BPR by relating it to quality improvement and Information Technology. It introduces the main concepts underlying the transformation of business processes, explains the enabling role of IT, and demonstrates the application of different tools to the redesign of business processes. The major learning objectives of the EM435 course are: To understand the importance of processes and BPR and appreciate how BPR bridges the business operations and engineering of systems. To understand how business processes can be radically improved, dramatically reducing process cycle time and cost, and improving the quality of the process products or outcomes. To identify business processes that are candidates for improvement To model current business processes and diagnose problems To model and develop improved business processes that require IT and organizational redesign To develop measures and benchmarks for business processes The pedagogical strategy of the course is to combine the lecture style of teaching and in-class case discussions. Each lecture starts with a presentation of major concepts underlying the subjects to be covered by the instructor and accompanied with in-class discussion of the case studies related to these concepts. The course also provides the students with the success and failure factors of BPR through the case studies. This facilitates the students\u27 ability to relate the course topics to real-world context. The course is designed to teach students BPR methodologies and the modeling technique that accompanies the methodology. The students are required to apply the concepts covered in the class to a real-life process to analyze, model, and optimize it in their final team projects. The implementation of BPR (EM 435) course at the undergraduate level was assessed using the Stevens\u27 School of Engineering assessment system designed to evaluate the educational outcomes of various undergraduate engineering programs. The Course Outcomes Assessment process at Stevens includes a two-pronged approach - the course survey and the Student Performance Assessment (SPA). In this paper we focus on the SPA approach of course assessment. Since the course was taught for the first time it makes sense to focus on the appropriateness of the content as demonstrated by student learning in their assignments, exams, and the final project

A Systems Integration Framework for Process Analysis and Improvement

Systems Integration (SI) is an important element of Systems Engineering. It involves the integration of hardware, software, products, services, processes, and humans. The ever-increasing scale of complexity of systems and its impact on the business requires that we revisit the processes involved in the development and integration of a system. This paper proposes a Systems Integration Process Model (SIPM) based on a comprehensive lifecycle view of systems integration. As part of the ongoing SI research at Stevens Institute of Technology, the authors have developed a Systems Integration Framework (SIF) which incorporates the relevant aspects of integration from a lifecycle perspective and sets a foundation to an end-to-end approach to SI. Our end-to-end approach focuses on how integration issues can be addressed up-front to minimize integration related complexities and challenges later on in the system engineering process. This paper discusses the merits and benefits of applying the SIPM to evaluate and improve current SI processes in organizations. The paper provides, in addition to an overview of the SI framework, the activities included in the model. The model was pilot tested to evaluate the SI processes at a government agency. The results were used to provide recommendations for SI process reengineering