Aims and objectives of the tutorial/workshop

Systems Engineering and, more widely, systems approaches can be inaccessible. Many, often including practicing Systems Engineers, fail to grasp the fundamental principles of Systems.

The aim of this workshop is to encourage depth of thought and specific ideas about how meaningful engagement with Systems principles can be secured across a broad base of systems and non-systems professionals.

The objectives to support realising this aim are:

• To test a card-set-based approach that endeavours to make systems approaches accessible.
• To stimulate discussion about how such an approach could be improved.
• To specifically explore how Systems tools and methods can be introduced in a palatable but clear way, such that
further exploration is encouraged.

Overview of the Content

Using a beta-version card set comprising of 20 Systems Principles, 20 high level Systems Methods and 10 example systemtypes, the delegation will be taken through a workshop designed with the aim of encouraging engagement with Systems Approaches across a range of professionals (both "systems engineers" and others). This will be highly interactive and should stimulate new thinking and insights regardless of experience.

Following the card-set workshop delivery delegates will be invited to:

- reflect on the experience (a facilitated session, using structure discussion questions and a variety of methods to encourage interaction).
- based on experience, speculate about the usefulness of the approach beyond the audience
- explore how the approach might be improved and suitable alternative courses of action.
- consider and specify what (if anything) they might change about their own practices as a result of the workshop experience.

Aims / Objectives of the tutorial

The systems that systems engineers must address are becoming ever more complex, and the impact of them far more impactful on the whole world.  That creates challenges for the practice of system engineering that requires two, potentially opposing things – a) sophisticated modelling to truly understand these systems and ensure that they are successful and b) full engagement with a wide range of stakeholders / people involved with the system – which require simple techniques.

This tutorial focused on the second of these issues – sharing and using some very simple techniques and ideas to enable a fully accessible and useful start to understanding any system of interest.  These techniques are the most basic to start being curious and to being the necessary enquiry before using the more sophisticated techniques.

The objective is therefore to re-introduce very simple techniques to help get the inquiry into a system situation going, and to start a conversation.  By group exercise use of the techniques to provoke conversation it is hoped to show that the systems approach can be started using very simple and accessible techniques.

The workshop will be split into discussion and introduction of 5 simple techniques / ideas, some anecdotes and examples of the use of the techniques, and group exercises by the attendees using these techniques.

It would be useful, but not essential, to have access to (a paper copy or electronic access) to the definitions of the ISo15288 processes and the INCOSE Systems Engineering Competencies, as these will be used in one of the exercises. 

Aims and objectives of the tutorial/workshop

Systems Engineering and, more widely, systems approaches can be inaccessible. Many, often including practicing Systems Engineers, fail to grasp the fundamental principles of Systems.

The aim of this workshop is to encourage depth of thought and specific ideas about how meaningful engagement with Systems principles can be secured across a broad base of systems and non-systems professionals.

The objectives to support realising this aim are:

• To test a card-set-based approach that endeavours to make systems approaches accessible.
• To stimulate discussion about how such an approach could be improved.
• To specifically explore how Systems tools and methods can be introduced in a palatable but clear way, such that
further exploration is encouraged.

Overview of the Content

Using a beta-version card set comprising of 20 Systems Principles, 20 high level Systems Methods and 10 example systemtypes, the delegation will be taken through a workshop designed with the aim of encouraging engagement with Systems Approaches across a range of professionals (both "systems engineers" and others). This will be highly interactive and should stimulate new thinking and insights regardless of experience.

Following the card-set workshop delivery delegates will be invited to:

- reflect on the experience (a facilitated session, using structure discussion questions and a variety of methods to encourage
interaction).
- based on experience, speculate about the usefulness of the approach beyond the audience
- explore how the approach might be improved and suitable alternative courses of action.
- consider and specify what (if anything) they might change about their own practices as a result of the workshop experience.

Aims / Objectives of the tutorial

The systems that systems engineers must address are becoming ever more complex, and the impact of them far more impactful on the whole world.  That creates challenges for the practice of system engineering that requires two, potentially opposing things – a) sophisticated modelling to truly understand these systems and ensure that they are successful and b) full engagement with a wide range of stakeholders / people involved with the system – which require simple techniques.

This tutorial focused on the second of these issues – sharing and using some very simple techniques and ideas to enable a fully accessible and useful start to understanding any system of interest.  These techniques are the most basic to start being curious and to being the necessary enquiry before using the more sophisticated techniques.

The objective is therefore to re-introduce very simple techniques to help get the inquiry into a system situation going, and to start a conversation.  By group exercise use of the techniques to provoke conversation it is hoped to show that the systems approach can be started using very simple and accessible techniques.

The workshop will be split into discussion and introduction of 5 simple techniques / ideas, some anecdotes and examples of the use of the techniques, and group exercises by the attendees using these techniques.

It would be useful, but not essential, to have access to (a paper copy or electronic access) to the definitions of the ISo15288 processes and the INCOSE Systems Engineering Competencies, as these will be used in one of the exercises. 

This tutorial will guide you through the processes of identifying, analysing, and mitigating failure modes commonly encountered during the development of technical systems. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a deeper understanding of the challenges in designing and implementing robust systems. Furthermore you will have learnt strategies to enhance system resilience.

This tutorial will further explore how to reduce risks thus enhancing system integrity and ensuring successful project outcomes. This approach will therefore increase understanding of the multi-faceted nature of technical failures through a framework which promotes more effective and reliable systems engineering practices. Digital Transformation, Digital Thread, Digital Twins, Digital Artefacts are all pivotal Digital tools, facilitating failure mode avoidance.

This tutorial will be delivered as an interactive problem-solving workshop.

The tutorial will include the following:

The tutor will share professional knowledge in this field drawing upon good practice over three decades involving research into pre and post product development focusing upon consumers, automotive vehicles and defence products.

Tutorial participants will leave with an increased awareness of the failure modes in innovative systems engineering processes. This tutorial will also equip participants with knowledge how to deliver successful error-free systems through recognised systems engineering frameworks.

This tutorial welcomes attendees at different career stages within Engineering: it is hoped that students, engineers and managers will all benefit from the session.

The objective of this tutorial is showcase the viability of concurrently conducting design optimization alongside conventional systems engineering activities within a unified model, thereby demonstrating the potential to significantly improve the collaboration and decision-making capabilities within an organisation.

The tutorial is centred around a design optimization problem of an electric aircraft where the primary objective is to maximise range. The challenge intricately involves two interdependent disciplines — aerodynamics and electrical systems.

In the beginning, we explore how we can model the electric aircraft using Object Process Methodology (OPM), a MBSE language recognised by INCOSE. We then demonstrate how we can configure the system model to interface with various engineering disciplines in their preferred, specialised analytical environments such as MATLAB in order to exchange design data. After that, we integrate OpenMDAO, an open source Python package, into the system model to orchestrate Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) and derive the optimal solution to the design problem.

Building upon this foundation, the tutorial then extends the problem to encompass higher level design trade studies using concepts from Multi-Objective Optimisation (MOO). By varying higher level design variables and executing the MDO workflow, a family of optimal designs is unveiled, each characterised by nuanced trade-offs between payload and range. The design data is connected to a PowerBI dashboard for comprehensive business intelligence. This integration serves to bridge the system designers and executive stakeholders, fostering a holistic and informed decision-making environment.

Attendants who wish to participate hands-on should register beforehand and bring their laptops with them to the tutorial. This is to arrange a temporary OPCloud license for OPM modelling and a Google Colab notebook for running Python code for those interested.

This tutorial will guide you through the processes of identifying, analysing, and mitigating failure modes commonly encountered during the development of technical systems. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a deeper understanding of the challenges in designing and implementing robust systems. Furthermore you will have learnt strategies to enhance system resilience.

This tutorial will further explore how to reduce risks thus enhancing system integrity and ensuring successful project outcomes. This approach will therefore increase understanding of the multi-faceted nature of technical failures through a framework which promotes more effective and reliable systems engineering practices. Digital Transformation, Digital Thread, Digital Twins, Digital Artefacts are all pivotal Digital tools, facilitating failure mode avoidance.

This tutorial will be delivered as an interactive problem-solving workshop.

The tutorial will include the following:

The tutor will share professional knowledge in this field drawing upon good practice over three decades involving research into pre and post product development focusing upon consumers, automotive vehicles and defence products.

Tutorial participants will leave with an increased awareness of the failure modes in innovative systems engineering processes. This tutorial will also equip participants with knowledge how to deliver successful error-free systems through recognised systems engineering frameworks.

This tutorial welcomes attendees at different career stages within Engineering: it is hoped that students, engineers and managers will all benefit from the session.