Managing Complex Systems Engineering and Acquisition through Lead Systems Integration

Abstract

Modern complex mission capabilities are fundamentally achieved with multi-mission, highly interoperable system of systems (SoS). The acquisition and management of these mission capabilities across the SoS lifecycle requires the complex integration of interdependent new and legacy systems from the lowest component level to the highest enterprise level. The challenge of integrating these disparate constituent systems into a SoS, is that they are developed and procured asynchronously, usually by different program offices, and often across different enterprises. The System of Systems Engineering and Integration (SoSE&I) process model was developed to provide details on the engineering activities required during SoS lifecycle. However, the SoSE&I does not specify the implementation details of the engineering activities. Heretofore, Navy System Commands (SYSCOMS) have been using different approaches to address SoS issues. Two prevalent approaches are Navy Integration and Interoperability (I&I) and Lead Systems Integration (LSI). Navy I&I provides a framework for mission engineering, and the collaboration between SYSCOMs, it focuses heavily on the engineering activities that occur early in the SoS lifecycle. LSI is an acquisition strategy that employs a series of methods, practices, and principles to increase the span of both management and engineering acquisition authority and control to acquire a SoS or highly complex systems. LSI is effectively a marriage of program management and multiple functional disciplines which must work together cooperatively to assert and execute trade space in the SoS given multiple constituent system acquisitions. Both of these approaches can use the SoSE&I as their foundation. However, neither of these concepts address the engineering and acquisition problem in its entirety. This research results in a correlation between the LSI and I&I processes, embedded on the SoSE&I, and provides a blueprint for a more complete SoS governance approach with a more executable set of guidelines and results in an enhanced mission-based SoS development and LSI management model. The revised process model includes inputs, outputs, and guiding principles of each phase, to yield an implementable solution that can be employed throughout the SoS lifecycle. The enhanced SoS/LSI process is then applied to explore architecture development. Defining the SoS architecture is one of the most critical activities within the SoS lifecycle because the architecture serves as the basis of many decisions to achieve the mission capabilities.