TMA July 2002

Question no 2: A system engineer can come from one of three sources: The system developer, the customer, or some outside organization. Discuss the pros and cons that apply to each source. Describe and “ideal” system engineer.

A system engineer has enormous responsibility towards the successful completion and implementation of a software project. He has to perform a set of duties to do this task effectively. A system engineer basically performs the analysis in which he finds out the objectives and responsibilities of the project to be completed. Later he gets involved in the design stage, in which he alone with other designers. Created a set of designs which help the programmers to develop the programs. Then he instructs people involved in testing process also.

System engineers can be recruited from the customers place, if possible. He can also be selected from the software development place. Or he can be recruited from and independent third party also. Each alternative has its own pros and cons. Which are as follows-

If the software engineer is from the customer place, then the primary advantage is that he understands the system more clearly then any other person. He has been working in the environment for quite some time, so has knowledge about the tasks which have to be accomplished by the system being developed. Requirements and objectives are already very clear in this mind. He has already association with other employees of the customer place. So id needed, he can get the information from the people concerned, in less time without any problem. The employees also will be more willing to provide information to a person who is one among them, rather than to a person who is from outside. So analysis of requirements and the system, itself can be done better be a system engineer, if he is one of the employees of the client place.

But, the employee of the client place may not be well-versed with the software development process. He may not have sufficient technical skill. He may not know the process which is undertaken to develop the software product. He may not be useful in design, coding and testing phase. One more disadvantage is that, the employee of client’s place, may try to force the development people to implement the project not only with necessary set of requirement, but also with a set of optional and unnecessary requirements. He may try to take undue advantage of his position by asking the developers to incorporate a large set of requirements. This is not recommended in WIN-WIN model. Both the parties should win. Here only customer is in the winning position.

If the software engineer is from the software development place, then the advantage is that he is an expert in the development process. He has experience of dealing with this type of tasks. He has sound analytical and technical skill. He knows the difference between the achievable and non-achievable requirements of a project being undertaken. His position in the company depends in his work performance. So he is totally motivated to excel in the work which he does-the development of an efficient software.

But, the software engineer from the software development place, may have a problem in dealing with people at the client place, for gathering the requirements. This is because he is not fully aware of the environment of the client place, not aware of the business practices following by the client, not aware of the internal politics of the client company etc. All these play a major role in performing analysis smoothly. But he can become aware of all this, at the cost of time. Personal at the client place, may not be completely side person, to get the right information from them.

If the software engineer is from an independent third party, then the advantage is that, he does not try to win against the other person, as is possible, in the above two situations. He tries to perform his job in an non partial manner, which is beneficial to both the partied. And, since we recruit from a reputed company, he may have excellent knowledge of how to heel with the software development process and his expertise can be used for the advantage if the client. But, the only disadvantage is that, he may conduct the development process, by keeping all other things in his mind as constant. He mad not be aware of the capability of the development team and the loop holes present in both client and the development side. Both parties may not believe the software engineer, because he is an outside person , and may also try to influence him to take decisions, for their own advantage.

An ideal system engineer is a person who gives importance to the quality of the project from a long-run point of view. He should take care of documentation, user-interface design which are generally not given much important. But these small things make the software to have high quality. He should always be doing his work in a proper time schedule. Time becomes the most important factor, and he should take decisions basing on this only. He would always follow the entire cycle of design principles, without omitting anything. Testing should be conducted from the start to end of the no. of people required to complete the project. He should try to reduce the overheads, by recruiting less no of people initially, and try to add persons to the project late. Validation and verification should be conducted from time to time, for all the components individually and also collectively.