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2.4 Intended Audience

Table 2‑1 below identifies the Guidebook’s intended audience. It includes the agency project management team. They are responsible for the project from the time it receives agency approval until it is turned over to the operating organization. This team generally consists of a project manager, a lead project engineer, immediate staff, and personnel from other organizations who provide project support [procurement, finance, and contracts]. It is their job to manage and guide the activities of the team members [either in-house or contractors] who perform each of the systems engineering activities.

The project management team has the lead role in most of the systems engineering activities described in this Guidebook [an exception being the activities that take place after the system goes operational]. Therefore, this Guidebook is aimed at providing that team with insight into these processes. This Guidebook supports them with a description of each of the steps of the systems engineering process. It will help them understand the goals of each step and the reasons why each step is important within the overall context of systems engineering. They will learn the flow of the processes, the inputs that must feed into each process, and how the process outputs [products] are needed to support subsequent steps. The systems engineering activities found in this Guidebook are specifically focused on the successful development of Intelligent Transportation System projects.

Table 2‑1 Intended Audience

Intended Audience Member

Benefit to be Gained from Guidebook

Project Manager

The successful ITS project manager will be able to identify the comprehensive, complete, and necessary set of systems engineering tasks that have to be programmed into the project. The project manager’s responsibilities include: ensuring all necessary tasks are part of the Project Plan, identifying task deliverables, and identifying and securing resources needed for each task. The requirements for all these tasks are reflected in the project’s budget and schedule. An understanding of the lessons of this Guidebook will go a long way in supporting this responsibility.

Lead Project Systems Engineer

The lead project engineer will be supported in defining each systems engineering task so that each task not only provides the needed products, but will also include the specific systems engineering efforts needed to develop those products. For instance, given the specifics of a project, at various points there may be trade-off studies or engineering analysis needed to answer certain critical questions. The lead project engineer also may see the need to follow a unified set of systems engineering process techniques [both for the efficiency and quality of the end-product].

Project Technical Staff

The staff will be guided in best practices in systems engineering tasks where they have specific responsibilities. They will be better prepared to either perform their tasks or [when required] oversee the performance of a task by the individual team members assigned to the task [either in-house or contractor]. The Guidebook will support the staff in the development of task products and provide guidance on how that product must support the rest of the systems engineering activities.

Team Members Performing each Task [concept development, requirements, design, implementation, integration, verification, and installation.]

Team members will have a better understanding of the range of the other disciplines they will be interacting with. It will support them in what is needed “to” and “from” these other disciplines. The Guidebook also will provide them guidance on the level and quality of their expected products, including documentation and technical reviews.

Project Team Management and Other Oversight / Funding Organizations

The Guidebook will provide an understanding of the systems engineering discipline that should be applied to a project to increase the chances of success. It will help develop an expectation and realization of the systems engineering tasks that are a part of a well managed ITS project.

Planning Organization

This Guidebook will support Planning in the transition of the project from planning to project development. It will provide support in verifying that the developed system is consistent with the regional ITS architecture and will support the validation of the system against the concept of operations.

Operations & Maintenance

The Guidebook will support Operations & Maintenance planning. For planning and budgeting purposes, it provides a checklist of key elements that will need to be addressed.

Owners of Interfacing Systems

The Guidebook will provide guidance for processes to be followed by the new system’s project management. It will address the role these system’s owners will be expected to play to insure technical and operational interoperability with their own systems.

 

 

Page last modified on September 20, 2016
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