Difference between revisions of "Service Life Management"

Revision as of 18:21, 28 June 2011

Product and service life management deals with the overall life cycle planning and support of a system. The life of a product or service spans a considerably longer period of time than the time required to design and develop the product or service. Systems engineers need to understand and apply the principles of life management throughout the life cycle of the system.

Product and service life management is also referred to as system sustainment. Sustainment involves the supportability of operational systems from initial procurement to disposal. Sustainment is a key upfront task for systems engineering that influences product and service performance and support cost for the entire life of the program. Sustainment activities include: design for maintainability, application of built in test, diagnostics, prognostics and other condition-based maintenance techniques, implementation of logistics footprint reduction strategies, identification of technology insertion opportunities, identification of operations and support cost reduction opportunities, and monitoring of key support metrics. [18] Product and sService lLife mManagement applies to both commercial and government systems. Examples of large commercial systems include energy generation and distribution, information management systems, the Internet, and health industries. Government systems include defense systems, transportation systems, water handling systems, and government services. It is critical that the planning for system life management occur during the requirements phase of system development. The requirements phase includes analysis of life cycle cost alternatives, and the understanding of how the system will be sustained and modified once it is operational.

The body of knowledge associated with product and service life management includes the following areas: (1) Service Life Extension; (2) Modernization and Upgrades, and (3) Disposal and Retirement. System engineers need to understand the principles of service life extension, the challenges that occur during system modifications, and issues involved with the disposal and retirement after a system has reached its "useful life (glossary)". Managing service life extension uses the "Engineering Change Management (glossary)" process with an understanding of the design life constraints of the system. Modernizing existing ("Legacy (glossary)") systems requires special attention to understanding the legacy requirements and the importance of having a complete inventory of all the system interfaces and technical drawings. Disposal and retirement of a product after reaching its useful life requires attention to environmental concerns, special handling of hazardous waste, and concurrent operation of a replacement system as the existing system is being retired.

The principles of product and service life management apply to different types of systems and domains. The type of system (commercial or government) should be used to select the correct body of knowledge and best practices that exist in different domains. For example, military systems would rely on sustainment references and best practices from Department of Defense (i.e., Military service instructions, Defense Acquisition University) and military standardization bodies (i.e., AIAA, SAE, SOLE, National Geo-spatial consortium).

Systems such as commercial aviation, power distribution, transportation systems, water handling, the Internet, and health industries would rely on system life management references and best practices from a combination of government agencies, local municipalities, and commercial standardization bodies and associations (i.e., Department of Transportation, State of Michigan, ISO, IEEE, INCOSE).

Some standardization bodies have developed system life management practices that bridge both military and commercial systems (i.e., INCOSE, SOLE, ISO, IEEE).

There are multiple commercial associations involved with defining engineering policies, best practices, and requirements for commercial product and service life management. Each commercial association has a specific focus for the market or domain area where the product is used. Key commercial associations include: American Society of Hospital Engineering (ASHE); Association of Computing Machinery (ACM); Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) International; National Association of Home Builders (NAHB); and Internet Society (ISOC) including Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook v.3.2 identifies several relevant points regarding product and service life management

Systems Engineering Guidebook for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), version 1.1, provides guidance on product changes, and system retirement.

Blanchard and Fabrycky's Systems Engineering and Analysis (2005), emphasis design for supportability and provides a framework for product and service supportability, and planning for system retirement.

Seacord, Plakosh, Lewis. 2003. Modernizing legacy systems, identifies strategies for product and service modernization.

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Transportation, and Logistics (USD AT&L) http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/ provides on-line policies, procedures, and planning references for product service life extension, modernization and retirement.

Jackson, S. 2007. A multidisciplinary framework for resilience to disasters and disruptions, provides insight into architecting a system for extended service life.

 Typical Pitfalls that occur after Product and Service Deployment

Major pitfalls associated with systems engineering after the deployment of products and services can be avoided if the systems engineer:

Recognizes that the systems engineering process does not stop when the product or service becomes operational.
Understands that certain life management functions and organizations, especially in the post-delivery phase of the life cycle, are part of the systems engineering process.
Knows that modifications need to comply with the system requirements.
Considers that the users must be able to continue the maintenance activities drawn up during the System Requirement phase after an upgrade or modification to the system are made.
Accounts for changing user requirements over the system life cycle.
Adapts the support concepts, drawn up during development, throughout the life cycle.
Applies engineering change management to the total system.

Not addressing these areas of concern early in development, and throughout the product or service’s life cycle can have dire consequences.

Topics

The topics contained within this knowledge area include:

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