Summary
ITS technical process involves various aspects such as system requirements, high-standard design, integration, and authentication, which manifest themselves in the “V” systems engineering prototypes. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the technical process constitutes several activities that result in one or more technical outputs (FHWA 15). The first activity involves the use of regional ITS architecture that identifies a section of regional ITS architecture. Secondly, the Feasibility and concept exploration include technical, economic, and political viability and the estimation of the benefits and leading risks.
The third activity involves determining the concept of operations among the project stakeholders to give a basis for the system necessities. Step four reviews system requirements through a review, analysis, and transformation of the concept of operations into verifiable needs. System design is the fifth stage that depends on the system requirements, shaping the system’s framework. This step involves the development of specifications for both software and hardware components. Software and hardware development before testing and delivery for another step of integration and installation is essential. The final steps include the initial deployment of the system before system validation.
ITS Project Management Process and Applying Systems Engineering
Describe the main activities in ITS project management processes
Project Planning
Project planning places the activities, assets, finances, and schedule for the project during the early project life cycle. Project planning leads to developing two significant plans that serve as guides for the execution and control phases (FHWA 82). These tools are the Project Plan (PP) and the Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP).
Project Monitoring and Control
This activity involves project tracking and project technical reviews of the PP and SEMP to ensure the project produces deliverables. The tracking process includes the development of measures from a combination of metrics. Performance measures may include disk space allocated, predicted failure rates, and total traffic signal equipment faults, system performance measures.
Risk Management
This activity involves the determination and control of risks during all the steps of the project life sequence. The importance of this step is to identify the possible challenges before they strike and organize for their emergence and observe the system development for timely measures before the risk arises (FHWA 87). Risk management occurs in four steps: risk identification, analysis, mitigation, and risk monitoring.
Configuration Management CM
Configuration management creates and maintains products’ performance stability, functional stability, and consistency of qualities based on their requirements, design, and operation information during their life cycle. The process constitutes five activities which include configuration planning, identification, change management, status accounting, and auditing.
Describe the process of traditional transportation project development
Project Commencement
This step involves the selection of a project manager, assembly of the project group, and project development planning. There is also cost estimation and completion of checklists and required forms.
Introductory Engineering
This phase involves environmental, right-of-way, and other assessments based on the type of project to develop an adequate understanding of the project’s necessities and limitations.
Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E)
This phase involves documenting complete project terms, material estimates, and related costs. Design documentation is necessary for the hardware and software elements in an ITS project.
Construction
This is the phase for building the project, including procurement and implementation of the hardware, and software and facilitating products such as manuals and training. The activity may also constitute monitoring of physical improvement and integration and testing of the system.
Project Closeout
The complete project is approved and accepted at this stage after the final inspection. This procedure also involves the submission of the final project documentation for audit before the final payment.
State and describe how you may apply systems engineering in your project?
Procurement and System Engineering
A procurement strategy is an essential determinant of the project development process. The procurement approach affects the agency, consultant, or contractor that manages each activity while also accomplishing the primary systems engineering process (FHWA 96). Poor choice of procurement strategy can negatively influence the project hence the need to design the procurement strategy based on the ITS project without assumptions. Some of the approaches for ITS project procurements include commodity supplier approach, low bid contractor, systems manager and consultant, and design-build contractor with design consultant approach.
Selecting a Development Strategy
Knowledge about the system for implementation is essential when establishing an effective development strategy. Three development strategies are effective for implementing systems engineering in a project. The first approach is a once-through/waterfall strategy that needs to plan, specify, and implement the whole system in a single pass through the “V” (FHWA 98) Incremental technique requires one to plan and specify the system and then execute in a sequence of growths that give a ration of the structure. The evolutionary strategy involves planning, specifying, and implementing the preliminary system ability.
How can an organization apply systems engineering in improving efficiency and capability?
An organization can use a three legs approach that includes technologies, processes, and people, determining the cost, schedule, and quality of services.
People
They possess skills that are necessary for the systems engineering process in an organization. An organization needs to improve competency in systems engineering using one specialist an organization. The group also needs to commit resources to improve project management and systems skills through short courses in systems engineering for the employees.
Process
The use of a cycle of processes is significant to systems engineering, after which an organization determines a conclusion for what was efficient and a procedure that needs a different approach during the project implementation. Several resources effectively develop systems engineering processes for an organization’s average business operations, including Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI’s) capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI). CMMI is vital in replicating process enhancement experience and best practices.
Technology
This component improves the efficiency of an organization if applied to an effective operation, while the application of technology in an inefficient operation will increase the ineffectiveness. The appropriate collection of tools for a project would be effective for a website upgrade to improve project efficiency. Small ITS projects require desktop applications such as a word processor for documents. In contrast, large projects need unique systems and software engineering tools for an efficient job in managing large requirement groups.
Describe the significance of project reviews and give examples of any types of project reviews
Project reviews give a systematic and controlled strategy to appraising project outcomes to evaluate their suitability for the intended function. The reviews help in indicating progress, and risk, and conveying products and knowledge between group members. Technical reviews emphasize project development features of the software package. Some of the reviews include project planning reviews, Concept reviews, requirements reviews, high-level design reviews, and detailed design reviews. Other less formal reviews may also be significant, including walkthroughs, provisional progress reviews, and other ad hoc reviews.
Work Cited
Federal Highway Administration. Systems Engineering for Intelligent Transportation Systems: An Introduction for Transportation Systems. United States Department of Transportation, 2007. Web.