Systems engineering is a multidisciplinary approach for
developing, specifying and managing automation and
information systems. Systems engineering is a maturing discipline and several
standards are emerging as recommended practices. The following sections only
touch on some systems engineering highlights. Readers should refer to
organizations, such as INCOSE and other standards organizations within the IEEE
and ISO/IEC, for a more complete treatment of systems engineering as an
emerging technical discipline.
Drive Systems with Stakeholder Requirements.Systems engineering emphasizes the need to effectively capture and develop
requirements that are driven by stakeholders. It is important to incorporate a
variety of perspectives in the requirements elicitation process, including
individuals managing systems as well as those considered as end users.
Requirements specifications are an important part of any system development
process. It should be noted that robust approaches to requirements include
provision for services and functions that may not be initially foreseen.
Apply Architecture Development Concepts.The energy industry must apply architecture development and design
principles when developing automation and information systems. The disciplines
for developing architecture are beginning to mature and are a necessary step in
the scale of integration and advancements now foreseen for the energy industry.
Architecture concepts seek to understand and document systems from an
enterprise and industry-wide integration perspective. This perspective is
required to overcome the limitations of component or systems development
carried out without a sufficiently broad vision.
Migrate toward Standard Terminology.
The energy industry must migrate toward using standardized terms for both business
and technical domains. The IntelliGrid Architecture project has adopted terms within the context
of the project to enable appropriate linkages within the model and in
documents. However, it is clear that many terms are overburdened and suffer
from multiple definitions. The industry needs to take steps to define terms and
their context for consistent usage. Standardization of terminology within
technical and business domains remains an industry issue that can be addressed
by contributions to key standards organizations and appropriately referenced.
The IntelliGrid Architecture project seeks to integrate and reference key definitions from IEC,
IEEE,
ANSI and
other organizations.
Use Standardized Notation for System
Description.Using standardized notation, such as the Unified
Modeling Language (UML), for documenting and designing advanced
automation systems helps reduce the ambiguities inherent in natural language.
While UML is currently supported with a variety of available tools, UML for
describing architectures is a maturing technology. The industry should continue
to follow the development of UML and UML for
ODP
now under development in the International Organization for Standardization
Develop System Designs with Complete
Specifications Sets.Baseline automation systems are often
underspecified from several perspectives: the applications are single or narrow
in purpose; the overall architecture as well as network and systems management
are not adequately specified; and security; if present at all, is not robustly
specified. These inadequacies lead to pilot projects that are limited in
scalability and integration. Systems designs must be specified, as fully as
possible, from project conception including robustness in the design.
Use IntelliGrid Architecture Requirements as a Starting Point
for Systems Development.IntelliGrid Architecture requirements can be a starting place
for most advanced automation systems that will confront enterprise or
industry-level architectural issues. IntelliGrid Architecture requirements, which are captured in
the Use Cases templates, represent a sampling of advanced automation and
communication systems. These use cases were developed at an architecture level
and are useful for understanding the strategic breadth and reach of future
applications to understand how systems will need to interoperate at higher
levels. These use cases are not exhaustive, nor are they at the detail of
design level requirements for specific equipment. They can, however, be used as
a useful project starting point.
Use IntelliGrid Architecture as a Basis for
Understanding a Unified Approach. The IntelliGrid Architecture Technology Independent
Architecture provides a platform for off the shelf interoperability. This
architecture can be used as the unifying construct for new system deployments.
Use IntelliGrid Architecture Analyses as a Basis for
Understanding Capabilities and Limitations of Available and Emerging
Technologies. The IntelliGrid Architecture team analyses included an assessment of
existing and emerging technologies against the requirements gathered for
specific applications. These analyses can be used to understand the
capabilities and limitations of technologies today as well as identifying where
more work is needed to develop more capabilities in new standards.
