Publication

Systems Engineering (SE)
2015

Integrating P-Diagrams into Specifications

by Kevin J. Dutcher

Abstract

Many of the “ilities” (Reliability, Maintainability, etc) are afterthoughts in the creation of a specification, and are often relegated to a set of templated boilerplate requirements, that are largely ignored. The Reliability / Robust Design professionals often use a P-Diagram (Parameter Diagram) as a key part of understanding the system under design. A way of integrating the Reliability effort more into the mainstream of the design activity, and give them a stronger voice, is to put their P-Diagram right into the specification, before it gets released to industry. This paper describes the rationale and the manner in which to do this.