System Definition

This post reviews ISO/IEC/IEEE/DIS 21840 Systems and software engineering – Guidelines for the utilization of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 (NEN-ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, 2015) in the context of System of Systems (SoS) engineering. A draft of this document is circulated for comments and approval. The document is therefore yet subject to change and might not yet be referred to as an international standard until published as such[1]. While (NEN-ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, 2015) applies to systems (including constituent systems), this document provides guidance on the application of these processes to SoS. The scope of the (draft) standard is the same as (NEN-ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, 2015), which establishes a common framework of process descriptions for describing the life cycle of systems created by humans.  It defines a set of processes and associated terminology from an engineering viewpoint.  These processes can be applied at any level in the hierarchy of a system’s structure.  Selected sets of these processes can be applied throughout the life cycle for managing and performing the stages of a system’s life cycle.  This is accomplished through the involvement of all stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of achieving customer satisfaction, hence addresses more than system engineering activities. In addition it explores the similarities and differences between systems and SoS and, by extension, the similarities and differences between engineering of systems and SoS.