Systems Management

During project formulation, APPEL's Project Support consultants evaluate systems-analysis requirements and provide services designed to meet specific project challenges. Systems management consultants offer project-tailored workshops or one-on-one mentoring, according to need.

Requirements and Architecture Development

Project practitioners learn how to avoid practices that lead to significant cost and schedule overruns. Through instruction, analysis of a project’s technical needs, and direct application of systems management principles, teams gain an understanding of how to transform requirements into system architecture through the integration and trade-off of concepts, effectiveness analysis, and specifications development. Project practitioners work to balance a project’s technical requirements with its business objectives.

Cost Estimating in a Systems Environment

Systems management support can focus on forecasting costs and schedules associated with developing hardware, software, and services-providing both theory and application of the estimating process and use of parametric cost-estimating models. This support benefits estimators charged with providing basic estimates for proposals; managers responsible for negotiating costs and schedules; software project personnel responsible for project planning, budgeting, and allocating resources; and development team leaders concerned about delivering quality products in an atmosphere of schedule and manpower constraints.

Services include:

• Directing the project requirements development process.
• Managing system architecture development including concept trade-offs.
• Directing integration of system components and verifying that requirements have been met.
• Managing system documentation, data configuration management and flow.
• Ensuring that systems engineering estimating is accurate and repeatable.
• Using parametric models for estimating and risk-based decision making.