201903 – Dey – Systems Engineering Assurance – A Holistic Approach

Modern rail projects are complex. They use multiple systems and need to be planned, designed, constructed, interfaced, integrated and tested in an agreed and assured manner to commission a safe, reliable, available and maintainable system.

With the help of advanced technology, a Holistic Systems Engineering Assurance methodology can be implemented at the beginning of a project and carried forward through the whole life cycle to ensure successful completion of the project.

This paper answers:
– What is the holistic approach in Systems engineering assurance?
– Why do we need it?
– Where does it apply?
– How do we establish it for a complex rail project? and
– Detailed implementation strategy of the Holistic framework

In collaboration with multiple stakeholders, a Holistic Systems Engineering Assurance methodology aims to predict, prevent and mitigate potential hazardous events. If utilised at the beginning of a project, it will also help facilitate better financial planning for project definition, implementation, integration, acceptance and operations while reducing the cost of design changes.

This paper aims to establish a well-defined Systems Engineering Assurance framework to achieve the performance levels that are important to and expected by stakeholders. This methodology can then be applied to any present and future complex railway projects in Australia and overseas.