Systems Engineering Management / Systems and Program Management - Curriculum 722 (DL)
Program Officer
Joseph Sweeney, Lecturer
Spanagel 448
(831) 656-2476
jwsweene@nps.edu
Academic Associate
Paul Beery, Assistant Professor
Ingersoll, 102A
(831) 656-2956
ptbeery@nps.edu
Brief Overview
The Systems Engineering Management program is an interdisciplinary program combining systems engineering with program management knowledge and skills. The program is intended to broaden the technical capabilities of the acquisition workforce who may have less technical backgrounds so they are able to successfully manage and lead programs/projects in support of the Defense Acquisition System. Students in this program learn the systems engineering process from establishing system requirements through verification and validation. Simultaneously students learn how to manage, schedule, and budget programs as well as work with DoD suppliers through contracts to meet program obligations.
Convenes
Fall
Program Length
24 Months
Requirements for Entry
Candidates for the program must have a baccalaureate degree with a minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.6, and at least one college level mathematics course.
Degree
Completion of this curriculum leads to award of the MSSEM degree. Refer to the MSSEM program requirements for eligibility.
Outcomes
1.System Engineering Management: The graduate will have an understanding of the systems engineering process, and be able to contribute to the definition of system requirements, evaluation of system architecture, verification and validation activities, system integration, and system design in the context of defense system acquisition.
2.System Architecting and Design: Perform system architecting, applying and integrating methods to construct feasible system functional and physical architectures that represent a balanced approach to meeting stakeholder needs and expectations, stated, implied, and derived system requirements, and suitability objectives such as being open, modular, extensible, maintainable, and reusable. Understand system architecture frameworks, including the Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DODAF), and their role in architecture development. Use model-based systems engineering techniques, based on UML or SySML to create, define, and develop system architectures. Develop, analyze, and compare alternative architectures against appropriate, system-level evaluation criteria and select the best based on quantitative and qualitative analysis, as appropriate. Understand and apply the system design process in a holistic context, defining requirements, conducting functional analysis, creating a system functional design, designing a system, and deriving and defining requirement specifications. Perform system assessment by conducting trade-off studies, evaluating system design alternatives against system capability need expressed as military effectiveness, estimating and analyzing the system cost and risk, and analyzing and planning for system testing and evaluation.
3.Project Management: Work as a team member or leader on a military systems engineering project. Demonstrate an understanding of project management principles. Demonstrate competence in the planning and management of complex projects. Understand the principles of and apply current industry approaches and technology to manage systems design, integration, test, and evaluation for large engineering projects.
4.Verification and Validation: Apply the core skills of system test and evaluation to include system effectiveness while being responsive to realistic military capability need and war fighting effectiveness, requirements, functions, and specifications. Evaluate systems and analyze test and evaluation aspects during the entire life-cycle using inferential statistics methods, including design of experiments (DOE) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Apply fundamental verification and validation principles to systems development methods.
5.Program Leadership and Management Principles: The graduate will have an understanding of and will be able to apply the principles, concepts, and techniques of Program Leadership and Program Management to the acquisition of major defense weapon systems. This includes the principles of risk management and tradeoff decision analysis using Total Ownership Cost, schedule and performance dynamics from a total life cycle management perspective.
6.Program and Contract Management Policies: The graduate will have an ability to formulate and execute defense acquisition policies, strategies, plans and procedures; an understanding of the policy-making roles of various federal agencies of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government, particularly the Department of Defense (DoD), the General Accounting Office (GAO), congressional committees, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); the federal and military contracting offices, the Boards of Contract Appeals, and the court system; and an understanding of the strategies necessary to influence policy development and implementation.
7.Systems and Acquisition Process: The graduate will understand the theory of and have an ability to lead program teams and manage the systems acquisition process. This involves the system life cycle process for requirements determination, research and development, funding and budgeting, procurement, systems engineering, including systems of systems, and applying the system design process in a holistic context, integrating methods for both software and hardware aspects for manned, unmanned and autonomous systems including identifying needed capabilities, defining requirements, conducting functional analysis and allocation to hardware, software, and human elements, creating a system functional design, test and evaluation, including its role in Systems Acquisition, DT and OT test planning, design, and conduct of tests, spanning live fire testing, modeling and simulation, and human systems integration, manufacturing and quality control, integrated logistics support, ownership and disposal; the interrelationship between reliability, maintainability and logistics support as an element of system effectiveness in defense system/equipment design; and embedded weapons system software, particularly related to current policies and standards, software metrics, risk management, inspections, testing, integration, and post-deployment software support.
8.Contract Management: The graduate will understand the role of the contracting process within the acquisition environment, including financial, legal, statutory, technical, and managerial constraints in the process. They will have knowledge of acquisition laws and regulations, particularly the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the DoD FAR Supplement (DFARS); and the application of sound business principles and practices to defense contracting problems in order to be able to apply innovative and creative approaches to re-solve difficult acquisition and contracting issues.
9.Business Theory and Practices: The graduate will have an understanding of the business and operating philosophies, concepts, practices and methodologies of defense industry with regard to major weapon systems acquisition, particularly the application of sound business practices.
10.Ethics and Standards of Conduct: The graduate will have an ability to manage and provide leadership in the ethical considerations of defense acquisition, including the provisions of procurement integrity, and to appropriately apply defense acquisition standards of conduct.
Fall
Typical Course of Study
Quarter 1
| OS3111 | Probability and Statistics for HSI and MOVES | | 4 | 0 |
| MN3301 | Acquisition of Defense Systems | | 4 | 0 |
Quarter 2
| SE3100 | Fundamentals of Systems Engineering | | 3 | 2 |
| MN3384 | Acquisition Production, Quality and Manufacturing Decision Science | | 3 | 2 |
Quarter 3
| SI3400 | Fundamentals of Engineering Project Management | | 3 | 2 |
| MN4470 | Strategic Planning and Policy for the Acquisition Logistics Manager | | 4 | 0 |
Quarter 4
| SE3302 | System Suitability | | 3 | 2 |
| MN4307 | Defense Acquisition Program Management Case Studies | | 4 | 0 |
Quarter 5
| SE3011 | Engineering Economics and Cost Estimation | | 3 | 0 |
| SE3050 | Introduction to Digital Engineering with Model-Based Systems Engineering | | 3 | 2 |
Quarter 6
| SE4420 | Modeling and Simulation in Acquisition | | 3 | 2 |
| MN3303 | Principles of Acquisition and Contract Management | | 4 | 0 |
Quarter 7
| SE4354 | System Verification and Validation | | 4 | 0 |
| SE3211 | Systems Engineering Management Capstone I | | 2 | 4 |
Quarter 8
| SE4520 | System Manufacturing Development and Production | | 3 | 2 |
| SE3212 | Systems Engineering Management Capstone II | | 2 | 4 |