Systems Engineering and Project Management

The goal of project management is to plan and coordinate the work activities needed to deliver a satisfactory product, service, or enterprise endeavor within the constraints of schedule, budget, resources, infrastructure, and available technology. According to Section 1.3 of the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition, project management is "accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the 42 logically grouped project management processes comprising the 5 process groups" (PMI 2008). The 5 process groups are:

• Initiating,
• Planning,
• Executing,
• Monitoring and Controlling, and
• Closing.

Each of the 42 processes is specified by Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs. Data flow diagrams are used to illustrate the relationships between each process and the other processes with which each process interacts.

Topics

The Systems Engineering and Project Management knowledge area contains the following topics:

• An Overview of Project Management
• Systems Engineering and Project Management: Similarities and Differences

PMBOK Overview

The Initiating process group in PMBOK® includes developing a project charter and identifying stakeholders. Planning includes 20 of the 42 project management processes; they range from develop project management plan, collect requirements, define scope, and create WBS to develop schedule, develop budget, plan quality, identify risks, plan risk responses, and plan procurements. The Monitoring and Controlling process group is comprised of 10 processes that include control scope, control schedule, control cost, perform quality control, and monitor and control risks. the Closing process group includes close project or phase, and close procurements.

The scope of project management thus encompasses the total set of management concerns that contribute to successful outcomes. This knowledge area provides an overview of project management and describes the relationships between systems engineering, project management, and systems engineering project management.

Future Version 1.0 Additions

For the Version 1.0 of the SEBoK we will focus this section on what a systems engineer needs to know to manage the SE portions of the project. We will also discuss how to engage and collaborate with the project manager to ensure that SE has sufficient resources and priorities.

Topics being considered are: TBD.

References

Citations

PMI 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI).

Primary References

Fairley, R.E. 2009. Managing and Leading Software Projects. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.

NASA. 2007. Systems Engineering Handbook, Revision 1. Washington, DC, USA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA/SP-2007-6105.

PMI. 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI).

Additional References

Blanchard, B. 2008. System Engineering Management. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Martin, J. 1997. Systems Engineering Guidebook: A Process for Developing Systems and Products. London, UK: Taylor and Francis Group CRC-Press, LLC.

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Signatures

--Bkcase 19:07, 22 August 2011 (UTC) (on behalf of Dick Fairley)

--Asquires 16:28, 2 September 2011 (UTC)Incomplete article

--Rturner 17:03, 8 September 2011 (UTC) tech edit