Systems Engineering Glossary

A software Configuration Management action that groups items and enters them into the process to deliver them to another phase in the development cycle or to users.

A software process to plan and manage the contents of a release – what is contained, the version numbers, the status of the contents, and any open Problem Reports.

The ability of a system (and its components) to perform its function without failure or degradation within a specified period of time under stated conditions.

The Configuration Management process to initiate changes to formally controlled Configuration Items.

A statement that identifies a system need that is unambiguous, clear, unique, consistent, and verifiable.

The process of understanding, documenting, approving, and managing the parent/ child relationships of system requirements during system decomposition.

The process of deriving, decomposing, and assigning the requirement to lower-level architecture elements in the evolving design architecture.

The process of analyzing requirements statements to determine if they have the necessary properties for effective management and implementation.

The process of generating, analyzing, allocating, and tracing requirement statements.

A document that describes the scope, resources, constraints, products, and process tailoring of a requirements development activity.

The process of translating needs, constraints, and higher order requirements into specifications.

A document showing the source and parent/ child relationships among requirements and how they cascade from the system level to the lowest level of the system architecture.  The verification method, result, and resolution for each requirement are included.

An asset, such as people, equipment, facilities, technology, and budget used to perform project tasks.

A formal process to evaluate and approve the current status of an approach, plan, or design and make a decision about next steps.

The potential for failure to achieve established/ approved objectives for safety, technical performance, schedule, or cost on a project.

A process to develop decision alternatives with an explicit consideration of the risk associated with those alternatives.

The examination of the probability that a given risk will occur and the seriousness of the impact.

The process of identifying all system (product) and programmatic risks.

A systematic, continuous process that identifies, assess, plans, mitigates, tracks, controls, and documents project risks throughout the life cycle.

The process for applying cybersecurity to systems throughout the product life cycle.