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Getting Started Introduction and Overview

Welcome to SYS650: System Architecture and Design

System Architecture and Design picks up where Fundamentals of Systems Engineering (SYS625) left off. SYS625 covered the disciplined process for identifying a stakeholder need and translating that need into a complete set of system requirements for a selected system concept, and ended with the System Requirement Review (SRR). In contrast to SYS625, the focus of this course shifts inside the system boundary to define and develop a specification for the set of logical and physical elements that comprise the logical and physical architectures. The course also addresses the implications of life cycle and design factors on the system design. The course culminates with a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) in which the system design is reviewed before detailed design can begin. The course has a strong how-to orientation both a team project and a final individual project are used to give students an opportunity to apply the architectural concepts and lessons learned. The course highlights linkages between early architectural decisions driven by customer requirements and concept of operations, and system operational and support costs.

Course Objectives

After taking this course, the student will be able to: Understand the link between the functional and physical system architectures and the

iterative nature of architecture development. Allocate system level requirements to components level requirements through

equivalence, apportionment, synthesis and other methods. Use a systems engineering tool to manage requirements, perform system level

modeling, document functional and physical architectures Develop a system level functional and physical architecture applying the methods

learned in the course.

Textbook

The textbook for this course is: Buede, D. M., The Engineering Design of Systems, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. Either the first or second edition of this book can be used. ISBN numbers are:

1st edition (2000) ISBNs: 0-471-28225-1 OR 978-0471282259, 488 pages. 2nd edition (2009) ISBNs: 0-470-16402-6 OR 978-0470164020, 536 pages. (preferred)

Textbook examples used in the lecture notes are further explained in the textbook. The textbook also provides reference material for the assignments. Related chapters of the text are shown in the Weekly Schedule for each topic (chapters for 2nd edition to be added when available); however, students should prioritize the review of the course material and completion of the assignments first, and refer to and read through the textbook when specifically required and as time allows.

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Fundamentals of Online Learning

If this is your first experience with online learning, there are some important differences from classroom-based instruction. In a traditional classroom, the instructor presents information to the students, assigns homework, and conducts assessments to verify that students have mastered the information required. Students listen to lectures, participate in classroom discussions, complete homework assignments and take exams. While the expectation in a traditional classroom is that students will be actively engaged in the learning process, some learning occurs even for students who remain completely passive. Being present for classroom lectures and the ensuing discussions provides even the least energetic students with some modicum of understanding of the course content. Not so with online learning. With online courses, students can sit in front of their computers for as long as they like, but unless they take action, no learning takes place! Thus, students bear a greater responsibility for their own learning in the online classroom; if they stop taking action for some period of time, learning stops until they resume. One advantage of online learning above that in the classroom, is the students are free to perform additional online research in real-time on many of the topics in the course material. This additional real-time research increases knowledge in the material presented and when students make these findings a part of our online weekly discussions, everyone benefits from the truly collaborative learning experience.

Course Outline

SYS650 describes the preliminary design phase of the systems engineering process, beginning after the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) through to the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). After a brief review of SYS625, functional and physical views are developed for the system and these are integrated into a comprehensive system model using CORE as a design tool. The course is divided into thirteen weeks. Students are required to complete one team or one individual assignment each week.

Individuals also participate in an online discussion each week starting in week one through week twelve. An individual response to one Discussion Question (DQ) is required by Wednesday of each week followed by a response, on a different day later in the week that demonstrates active participation in the online discussion.

To promote full team member participation, students are required to assess their own contributions and other members of their team about midway in the semester and then again towards the end of the semester, prior to the grading of the final team project. While team members usually receive the same grade, team members may earn a lower grade due to lower participation in the team activities. There is both a team (Preliminary Design Review (PDR) presentation) and an individual (to be worked on alone) final project to demonstrate personal mastery of the course material. While specific assignments are required each week, there is no requirement that the assignments must be completed in a single week they can be started early! A more detailed outline of the course is provided in the Weekly Schedule.

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Weekly Schedule Wk

Buede

Lecture Notes

Assg Type

Assgs Due Midnight EST, Sunday See Course Material for Detail

Max Pts

1

Ch. 1, 6

SYS625/CORE Review and ATM Guided Tour

Indiv Complete Student Profile. (10 pts) Complete ATM CORE Guided Tour (50 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

75

2 Ch. 2, 3 Introduction to and Strategic Role of Architecture

Team Develop two new ATM sequence diagrams; and update the requirements in the ORD. Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

15

3

Ch. 7 Functional Architecture

Team Update the CORE model for the new required inputs and outputs. Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

15

4

Ch. 7 Functional Arch Tradeoffs

Team Develop the first level functional architecture in CORE. Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

15

5

Ch. 7 Indiv Create internal sequence diagrams and trace through the teams first level functional architecture; provide detail on analysis and mismatches. (100 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

115

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Ch. 8, 10

Physical and Interface Architectures

Team Develop first level physical architecture in CORE. Add an external interface and a link to the system model in CORE. Provide team assessment. (5 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

20

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Ch 9 System Model Team Extend most complex first level function and physical component to the 2nd level and add relationships. Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

15

8 Ch. 13 Architecture Assessment

Team Describe how you might update the ATM architecture for two Design Factors. Provide a risk assessment for the architecture. Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

15

9

PDR, part 1 Final Team

Post PDR Presentation slides. (225 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

240

10

PDR, part 2

Final Team

Post PDR Presentation recording. (75 pts) Provide team assessment. (5 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

95

11

Ch. 12, Ch. 9.5

Functional Modeling

Indiv Simulation Report (50 pts) Weekly Discussion (15 pts)

65

12 OO and AFs Weekly Discussion (15 pts) 15 13

Final

Indiv Complete 2nd level functional and physical architectures and extend architectures to 3rd level for one function (300 pts) Complete Course Evaluation

300

1000

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Team Assignments

Team assignments are due in eight of the thirteen weeks. The first six team assignments provide an opportunity for the instructor to review the teams work and provide feedback to help the teams stay on track. The feedback is not intended to be comprehensive or point out every flaw. The goal is for the teams to iteratively build and revise their work based on lessons learned from the coursework, discussions, and feedback. The two final team assignments are graded. Assignments are described in detail for each week in the Course Material. After the teams complete the weeks assignment, the team lead posts the teams work in the assignment area for the instructor to review and provide comments. For consistency and fairness to each team, this is the only time the instructor will review and provide feedback on the teams deliverables. However, the instructor welcomes questions from the team members (please copy your teammates) at any time. In summary, the teamwork process each week is as follows: Each student reviews the lecture notes and resource material provided in the Course

Material and discusses the material with their teams, as needed. Team assignments are completed as a team, not by the team lead only. Please

note: Every team member should have a turn at updating the CORE model. Team leaders post the teams completed assignment on time in the appropriate

area. The instructor reviews the posted teamwork and provides feedback. Teams factor instructor feedback and lessons learned from the coursework and

discussions, into their ongoing project work towards a high quality final PDR.

The week begins Monday morning. To ensure that ample time is available for review of the team assignments prior to the following weeks work, team assignments must be posted by midnight EST on Sunday of the week in which they are assigned. Instructor comments will be posted by midnight Wednesday of the following week, typically earlier, for all team assignments except the final PDR, which can take up to a week to review. Teams and Team Leadership

System Architecture and Design employs project teams to facilitate the learning process. Each team consists of three to five students who develop a system design selected for its relevance and its familiarity in our case the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Teams are formed by the students with guidance from the instructor using a Learning Team Sign-up sheet and the Form Teams discussion group. Effective time management is crucial to ensure that teams complete their assignments on time and to keep the course on schedule for all participants. To facilitate this, team leaders are to be assigned by each team on a rotating basis. The team leader for each week in which an assignment is required is responsible for:

a) arranging the team meeting or meetings, b) facilitating team discussions, ensuring full participation of each member of the team,

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c) verifying that the teams response to the assignment is accurate and complete, and d) posting the assignment to the appropriate area by the required time.

Each student will be required to serve as team leader one to three times during the course, depending on the size of the team. The members of the team collaborate to decide on team leader assignments. A schedule of team leader assignments should be posted to the appropriate thread in the Form Teams Discussion group by each team by the end of the first week of class. Changes made to the team leader assignments during the course should be posted as updates to the team lead list in the Form Teams Discussion group. Individual Assignments

Four individual assignments comprised of three smaller individual assignments and one major final individual assignment, are due in the class along with the student profile, team assessments, weekly discussions, and the completion of the course evaluation survey. Individual assignments are explained in the Weekly Assignment files in the Course Material and are posted in the Assignments area of the course. Individual assignments are designed to successively build capability and confidence in architecture concepts at the individual level. Attention to detail in the individual assignments is key to building personal mastery. The online week begins Monday morning. Individual assignments must be posted by midnight EST on Sunday of the week in which they are assigned. Instructor comments will typically be posted by midnight up to one week later for all individual assignments; especially the final individual project.

Weekly Online Discussions

Students are required to participate in online discussions on the weeks course content from Monday through Sunday each week. This discussion takes place in parallel with the work on the individual or team assignment due that week. The instructor posts Discussion Questions (DQs) to stimulate this discussion. The goal of the online discussions are to mimic an in-class discussion in terms of addressing a topic and reaching certain conclusions or objectives of learning; albeit, separated in time and space. This leads to several differences between classroom and online discussions. In online discussions:

All students participate, not just the more vocal students. Students can participate any time of the day or night, when they are ready or in

the mood to contribute and learn. Each participant has time to reflect on their response in order to provide a more

valuable experience to all, before posting the response. Comments are succinct, using the minimum amount of words needed to make a

point, in order to minimize the amount of reading required to get to the point. Postings are not limited to responses to the discussion questions. Postings may also include observations related to that weeks course material, comments on lessons

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learned while completing that weeks assignment, related real-life experiences, results of related research (include url pointers, if applicable), or other value add material pertinent to the course content for that week. There is also an area for students to post questions on the course material; however the questions do not count towards the participation requirements. At the end of the week (after Sunday) the discussion will remain available to the students but no more input should be posted. Students comments will be monitored by the instructor. Each student should respond to at least one DQ by Wednesday and post a substantive follow-up comment later in the week that is, each student will be expected to contribute at least two substantive comments per discussion each week on two separate days (Monday to Sunday) to earn maximum credit. Substantive comments are constructive, reflective and intended to further the learning process. They provide insights, opinions, examples, or suggestions. Substantive comments add value to the discussion. Comments like good point or I agree do not qualify as substantive comments; however, they can be used as an introduction to a follow-on point. Participation in the discussion should be once early in the week (respond to one DQ) and again towards the end of the week after the discussion has matured. Comments should be short and to the point. Since every student and the instructor read every comment, long, wordy comments place an unnecessary burden on the entire class. The challenge is to provide meaningful contributions to the discussion as succinctly as possible! Lecture Notes and Course Concepts

Lecture notes are used primarily as a reference; that is, the presentation slides are not intended to provide a complete understanding of the course concepts for that week. Rather, important course concepts are introduced in a number of different ways. First, a review of the most important points for each week is included in the Overview section of the Assignment files for each week. Additional hints to important course concepts are also found in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) included at the end of those same weekly Assignment files. Second, recorded audio lectures are available in most weeks on most topics. Lecture notes and other course content should be discussed as part of the team meetings and applied to the teams work. Instructor feedback also serves as a review of important course concepts. However, active participation in the online discussions is critical for achieving a more complete understanding of the course material through a question and answer approach. Additional questions are requested and encouraged. Specific questions on a particular weeks course content should be posted to that weeks FAQ discussion thread or sent to the instructors Mail for possible inclusion in the FAQ discussion thread. When public questions are posted; students should feel free to answer each others questions; and the instructor will clarify as needed. Students should rely on the entire process, especially participation and reading and asking questions through the weekly discussions, to learn the course material, rather than struggle to understand a particular point that may seem unclear in the slides.

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Grading

Grades will be based on three factors: class participation (20%), team project (30%) and individual assignments (50%). Participation points will be awarded for completing a student profile at the start of the course (10 points), assessing self and team members midway (5 points) and at the completion (5 points) of the team project, and participating in online discussions an important element of the course worth up to 180 points earning up to 200 points total for participation. Students will be assigned points for contributing to each of the twelve discussions as follows:

15 Points: Excellent student provided two or more substantive comments on two

or more days, and participated in the discussion both early in the discussion when it was taking shape (by Wednesday), and later in the discussion when it had matured (by Sunday), and significantly moved the discussion forward by taking it in a new direction; for example, providing a relevant example from the students own experience; or synthesizing a key point. Please note: Answering two or more DQs on separate days during the week does not qualify for an Excellent.

10 Points: Compliant student contributed at least two substantive comments to the discussion, as required, but failed to meet all criteria specified for Excellent.

5 Points: Deficient student contributed to the discussion but failed to make at least two substantive comments.

0 Points: Failed student failed to participate in the discussion or the students comments were not substantive.

Each team can earn up to 300 points for their team project. In the case of team assignment, if a student is not contributing fully to the work of the team, the student will earn a lower team grade. Individual assignments will be worth up to an additional 500 points three individual assignments worth up to 50, 100, 50 points respectively in three of the weeks, and a final individual project due at the end of the course worth up to 300 points. This results in a maximum of 1000 points for the course, which can be divided by 10 for the final number grade. The standard Stevens grading scale is then applied to determine the base letter grade: 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C, 69 or less F, and then a plus (+) or (-) will be applied to the final base letter grade as determined by the overall performance of the students in the class. Typically the spread for 1000 points is: 930-1000 A, 900-929 A-, 870-899 B+, 830-869 B, 800-829 B-, 770-799 C+, 730-769 C, 700-729 C-, 699 or less F. Therefore, if you are required to obtain a B or higher grade by your company for tuition reimbursement, be aware you need to earn 830 or more points in the class. The graduate grade points are:

A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- F 4.00 3.67 3.33 3.00 2.67 2.33 2.00 1.67 0.00

Students should review their grades each week using the My Grades tool. Students should review their assignment feedback each week by clicking on Graded in the Assignments link for each assignment. Please note that the feedback may include attachments as noted in the feedback comments; feedback files are found with the other files submitted in the Assignment area for each particular assignment.