Systems Engineering Organizational Constraints and Responsibilities

Systems engineering is an approach to manage increasing system complexity relying on fundamental principles and best practices, realized by processes, methods and IT-tools, and used by engineers. The introduction of systems engineering requires alterations to be made to existing processes, methods, and tools, which in turn require that the organizational structure is altered to ensure the benefits provided by a systems engineering approach can be reaped. This chapter focuses on the essential pillar: the organizational constraints and responsibilities in the context of systems engineering. After a brief introduction of traditional organizational forms, the chapter considers the implementation of systems engineering and the resulting opportunities, and then continues with a practical view of systems engineering from an organizational point of view using an automotive powertrain and transmission as an example. This chapter provides an overview and shows the importance of positioning systems engineering within the organizational structures.