Systems engineering is part of project management; its responsibilities include technical direction, system integration, and coordination of technical divisions.
Creating a complex system involves a multitude of interrelated tasks carried out by dozens or hundreds of people, as well as subcontractors and other organizations. This encompasses not only the development process itself but also everything typically required to support the system's operation, including maintenance, documentation, training, and much more. Test and other required equipment, facilities, and vehicles must be developed, procured, and made available. No aspect of project management or systems engineering can be overlooked, including planning, scheduling, cost estimation, and configuration management.
Systems engineering tasks include directing system development at every stage of conceptual and detailed design. This encompasses, in particular, requirements analysis, trade-off studies (analysis of alternatives), technical reviews, test and evaluation requirements, system-level technical requirements, configuration management, and so on — everything included in the Systems Engineering Management Plan. Another important activity is involving specialty engineering early in the project — in other words, what is commonly known as concurrent engineering.
When developing a complex system, it is essential that all key participants in the process know not only their own areas of responsibility but also understand how to interact with one another. Just as controlling system interfaces requires dedicated documentation, the relationships between different areas of responsibility and governing bodies must be defined and managed. This is typically achieved by preparing and distributing a Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) or an equivalent document.
The primary function of the SEMP is to ensure that all the many project participants — subsystem work leaders, component developers, test engineers, systems analysts, specialty engineering staff, subcontractors, and so on — understand their obligations to one another. This is a precise analogy to the systems engineering function of defining the interactions among system components, so they fit together and operate seamlessly. In addition, the SEMP serves as a reference guide for the procedures to be followed when performing the numerous tasks of systems engineering.
The SEMP is a living document that initially contains only general principles but is progressively detailed and updated as the system is developed. Having an approved SEMP also enables monitoring whether all planned tasks have been fully completed.