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Electrical Mechanical
Architecture
Engineering Engineering

Civil Systems Software
Engineering Engineering Engineering

Figure 10.5
Professional disciplines Electronic User Interface
involved in systems Engineering Ergonomics Design
engineering

2. Each discipline makes assumptions about what can or can’t be done by other
disciplines. These are often based on an inadequate understanding of what is
actually possible. For example, a user interface designer may propose a graphi-
cal UI for an embedded system that requires a great deal of processing and so
overloads the processor in the system.
3. Disciplines try to protect their professional boundaries and may argue for cer-
tain design decisions because these decisions will call for their professional
expertise. Therefore, a software engineer may argue for a software-based door
locking system in a building, although a mechanical, key-based system may be
more reliable.

10.3 System procurement

The initial phase of systems engineering is system procurement (sometimes called
system acquisition). At this stage, decisions are made on the scope of a system that
is to be purchased, system budgets and timescales, and the high-level system require-
ments. Using this information, further decisions are then made on whether to procure
a system, the type of system required, and the supplier or suppliers of the system.
The drivers for these decisions are:

1. The state of other organizational systems If the organization has a mixture of
systems that cannot easily communicate or that are expensive to maintain, then
procuring a replacement system may lead to significant business benefits.
2. The need to comply with external regulations Increasingly, businesses are regu-
lated and have to demonstrate compliance with externally defined regulations
(e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley accounting regulations in the United States). This may
require the replacement of noncompliant systems or the provision of new sys-
tems specifically to monitor compliance.

3. External competition If a business needs to compete more effectively or maintain
a competitive position, investment in new systems that improve the efficiency of