The Technical Review

Annotation The authors, who both teach electrical engineering at the U. of New South Wales, Australia, have written a text that will be useful for the undergraduate and graduate classroom. The philosophical aspects of the field are provided as an overview, with descriptions of procedures, vocabulary, and standards. Systems engineering is then described, with sections on all stages of design, systems engineering management, tools, and applications. A chapter is included on the interrelationship between systems engineering and fields such as project management, quality management, and integrated logistics support management. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

CMMI® for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ) describes best practices for the successful acquisition of products and services. Providing a practical framework for improving acquisition processes, CMMI-ACQ addresses the growing trend in business and government for organizations to purchase or outsource required products and services as an alternative to in-house development or resource allocation. Changes in CMMI-ACQ Version 1.3 include improvements to high maturity process areas, improvements to the model architecture to simplify use of multiple models, and added guidance about using preferred suppliers. CMMI® for Acquisition, Second Edition, is the definitive reference for CMMI-ACQ Version 1.3. In addition to the entire revised CMMI-ACQ model, the book includes updated tips, hints, cross-references, and other author notes to help you understand, apply, and quickly find information about the content of the acquisition process areas. The book now includes more than a dozen contributed essays to help guide the adoption and use of CMMI-ACQ in industry and government. Whether you are new to CMMI models or are already familiar with one or more of them, you will find this book an essential resource for managing your acquisition processes and improving your overall performance. The book is divided into three parts. Part One introduces CMMI-ACQ in the broad context of CMMI models, including essential concepts and useful background. It then describes and shows the relationships among all the components of the CMMI-ACQ process areas, and explains paths to the adoption and use of the model for process improvement and benchmarking. Several original essays share insights and real experiences with CMMI-ACQ in both industry and government environments. Part Two first describes generic goals and generic practices, and then details the twenty-two CMMI-ACQ process areas, including specific goals, specific practices, and examples. These process areas are organized alphabetically and are tabbed by process area acronym to facilitate quick reference. Part Three provides several useful resources, including sources of further information about CMMI and CMMI-ACQ, acronym definitions, a glossary of terms, and an index.

Cost growth and schedule delays are prevalent problems in acquiring defense weapon systems. Manufacturing systems has proven difficult, particularly as programs transition to production. In Dec. 2008, DoD issued an updated version of its acquisition policy that reflects earlier consideration of manufacturing risks. A joint defense and industry group developed manufacturing readiness levels (MRL) to support assessments of manufacturing risks. This report assesses the manufacturing problems faced by DoD, how MRLs can address manufacturing problems, how MRLs compare to manufacturing best practices of leading commercial firms, and challenges and barriers to implementing MRLs at DoD. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.