Managing concurrent development - A systems engineering approach

Schedule constraints force concurrent engineering effort into the vast majority of ATE development programs. This is certainly true in the development of the replacement Minuteman III MK-12/12A Reentry System Test Set (RSTS). This paper describes the systems engineering processes implemented to reduce risk associated with the numerous parallel efforts required to develop the replacement RSTS. One of the primary functions performed by systems engineering is requirement analysis/allocation. The Government's acquisition strategy for the replacement RSTS program included providing the system level and development specifications as source documents. From these documents, PEI Electronics identified over 5,000 requirements that had to be satisfied. This paper will discuss how systems engineering handled this challenge by capturing all pertinent and unique requirements and allocating them within a single "Requirements Traceability Matrix" database. Another major challenge to the RSTS program was the concurrent design activities involving hardware, system software and test program software development. The paper will describe how concurrent development risks were addressed via requirement documentation, disciplined scheduling, organizational changes and enhanced lines of communication. Finally, the paper will discuss the phased building block approach implemented to mitigate risks associated with concurrent hardware and software integration.