How Systems Engineering Concepts Help Project Managers Organize Projects

This article discusses how systems engineering concepts and methodologies can help project managers organize projects effectively. It emphasizes the significance of successful identification and management of product requirements. The article explains how project managers and systems engineers can work together to ensure customer satisfaction and deliver value to the customer.

(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20012 Unit Portfolio for Week 4
Week 4: Describe how systems engineering concepts and methodologies can help a project manager
organise a project
Reading samples Learning
outcome # 4
Learnings from your weekly study, experience, this and
prior unit readings and assignments
Supporting
documentation
including any
prior learning
Mandatory Readings
 SEBoK Part 2:
Foundations of
Systems
Engineering -
'Knowledge Area:
Systems Approach
Applied to
Engineered
Systems';
 Part 5: Enabling
Systems
Engineering;
 Kerzner (2017)
Chapters 1.23;
2.15 - 2.17; 17.17;
 AS/NZS
15288:2015
Chapter 6.1-6.2;
 Al-Mamary Y.H.,
Shamsuddin A, &
Aziati N., (2013)
"The Impact of
Management
Information
Describe how systems
engineering concepts
and methodologies can
help a project, program
and portfolio managers
organise a project.
In order to enhance the success of the project, it is essential to
understand the significance of successful identification and
management of the product requirements. With the effective use of
systems engineering to improve the project success with the effective
requirement handlings, deviation from the scope and unnecessary
surprises can be reduced. Considering product requirements, the
project managers emphasize on different aspects other than the
systems engineers (Westland, 2017). However, in general, the system
engineers are focused on ensuring that the identified product or service
requirements should be on paper in order to get verified and validated
as and when required (Haar, 2008). On the contrary, project managers
are responsible for outcomes of the project along with requirement of
time, cost and resources to meet the development of products or
completion of service facility. Working together, the system engineer
and the project manager can ensure satisfaction of the customers or
users by emphasizing on business case, funds as well as technical
aspects of the project. Both can collectively assure adequate, achievable
as well as verifiable solutions to the project management. Both are
complementary to each other and provide huge benefit from leveraging
strength of each other in a team environment in the workplace. While
the project manager manages the project life cycle, the management of
technical baseline of the product or service under development is the
PPMP20012 Unit Profile
PPMP20012 Moodle
Web site
Have you any insights
you can add from other
units you have studies or
readings you’ve made?
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20012 Unit Portfolio for Week 4
Reading samples Learning
outcome # 4
Learnings from your weekly study, experience, this and
prior unit readings and assignments
Supporting
documentation
including any
prior learning
Systems Adoption
in Managerial
Decision Making:
A Review"
Optional Readings
 AS ISO
21504:2016
 Portfolio
Management;
 Movie: Enterprise
Project Portfolio
Management
(EPPM).
responsibility of the systems manager. However, both equally share
responsibility of management and by working closely to each other,
they could keep the project on track (Van Gemert, 2013). The systems
engineering team emphasizes on the requirements of the product and
should be authorized to deal with them in an autonomous manner
which could also involve the project manager in case the technical
requirements affect the requirements of the project (SEBoK, 2017).
So, in refineries such as BP, the systems engineers and project managers
should work hand in hand to avoid such serious accidents because the
aspect responsible for the accidents was found to be systems failure.
Working together, both project managers and systems engineers can
handle all the projects effectively.
From the weekly study and my own experience, I learned that there is lot
in common between the scope of system engineering and project
management. The systems engineering concepts and methodologies can
help in effectively planning, monitoring, confronting risk, and delivering
the technical aspects of the project. This is turn will help in delivering
value to a customer.
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20012 Unit Portfolio for Week 4
Reading samples Learning
outcome # 4
Learnings from your weekly study, experience, this and
prior unit readings and assignments
Supporting
documentation
including any
prior learning
References
Haar, R. t. (2008). Project, program and portfolio management in large Dutch organizations : determining the maturity of project, program, and portfolio
processes and identifying bottlenecks in further professionalizing the project organization. University of Twente.
SEBoK. (2017, November 17). Enabling Systems Engineering. Retrieved from Sebokwiki.org:
https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Enabling_Systems_Engineering
Van Gemert, D. (2013). Systems engineering the project. PMI® Global Congress 2013. North America, New Orleans: Project Management Institute.
Westland, J. (2017). Project Management Methodology – An Overview. Retrieved from Projectmanager.com: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-
management-methodology
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