Abstract:
Changes are necessary and inevitable in system or product development, but may lead to system deterioration, unexpected complications if not properly controlled.
System Impact analysis (SIA) is the activity of identifying the potential consequences of any changes (business need, new requirements, new technologies) we would like to make on a system or to determine what needs to be modified in order to make a change. So this helps us to determine the scope of the change, along with estimation of the resources we need for planning the changes.
SIA process also helps in identifying those dependencies which are not ideally visible while making any kind of changes in system. Hence SIA reveals hidden or unseen impacts in earlier stages which might deteriorate the project or increase the budget or time if not executed.
In this article, we discuss impact analysis from system engineering perspective, outline the steps followed in system impact analysis (SIA) process and present a framework to perform impact analysis. Also we have captured one case study to show the implementation of SIA.
The ultimate goal of the article is to provide a standard framework which can be used while performing SIA to predict all the possible impacts effectively before making any change in the system.
Keywords: System Impact analysis (SIA), Traceability, Dependency, Requirement
Introduction:
It is widely recognized that change is inescapable for any system such as staying current with industry trends, new business opportunities, improving productivity of product etc. However, unexpected complications often remain hidden while performing any technical changes to complex system. Hence System change if not properly controlled, lead to system deterioration, rework, and wasted work & money down the drain. E.g. Change in design of fuel pump in vehicle resulted in interruption with electrical power module leading to fuel pump to fail- https://etauto.com/s/7gscmw8, software change in Therac-25-https://youtu.be/Ap0orGCiou8.
E.g. Also most of the time, implication to all parts of the system or system as a whole not understood clearly. So it could be risky to jump into any system directly making change without a proper plan.
Conducting System Impact Analysis, we can learn what will be affected before making the actual changes. System Impact analysis is a tool for controlling change, and thus for avoiding deterioration. Impact analysis can be defined as “ the activity of identifying the potential consequences, including side effect and ripple effects, of a change(business need, new requirement, new technologies) or estimating what needs to be modified to accomplish a change before it has been made on a system”. Consequently, the output from impact analysis can be used as a basis for estimating the cost associated with a change. The cost of the change can be used to decide whether or not to implement it depending on its cost/benefit ratio.
In our experience, impact analysis is an integral part of every phase in system development. During requirements development, design and prototype do not yet exist, so new and changing requirements affect only the existing requirements.
During design, proto or product does not yet exist, so new and changing requirements affect only existing requirements and design. Finally, during implementation, new and changing requirements affect existing requirements as well as design and proto.
This is captured in Fig. 1. Note that in less idealistic development processes, the situation still holds; requirements changes affect all existing system representations.
How to perform System Impact Analysis (SIA)?
Impact analysis can be performed in two steps.
i. Finding out relationships related to the subject element. There are two ways to find out the relationships:
b. Dynamic linkage/ Dependency study
ii. Review those relationships to uncover any possible consequences and risk associated with changes
A series of questions should be considered regarding the related elements being affected by the change, for example:
You may have more questions to ask during the review process depending on the subject of its nature, business decision as well as the complexity of the system.
Benefits of SIA:
Implementing SIA has the following benefits:
System Impact Analysis Lifecycle phases:
System impact analysis can be described in 3 steps:
System Impact Analysis framework:
System Impact Analysis Procedure:
There are 5 simple steps to conduct an effective system impact analysis are:
Conclusion on SIA:
Investment of SIA on project provides:
Case Study of SIA on PSS project:
To show the SIA process, here in this article we have taken a joystick system as a case study.
Joystick has following components:
For the current case study, let us consider that the spring which is used in the joystick, is required to change because of supply chain constraints. Now let us see how SIA will help us to find out the impact of the above change by looking into what are the elements to which current change is related.
To find out the dependency of other elements with the current changed element, here we have used MBSE tool to trace back the related elements.
Using MBSE tool, first of all we have found out the current component is sub-part of which component, sub assembly and assembly.
From the hierarchy, all the related constraints and requirements are traced using MBSE tool.
Now again using MBSE tool, further related derived requirements and components are traced back.
Above figure shows all the related elements to the spring configuration.
From the above figure, we can find out what are the elements which may affect because of the change in the spring configuration.
Using the above information now we can fill the SIA framework.
After capturing scope and depth of changes, some hand calculations are done to find out the maximum load possible with the new spring.
Conclusion of System Impact analysis on Joystick-
If you are interested in understanding how to adopt systems engineering and model based systems engineering practices within your organization, reach out to BlueKei Solutions team at info@Blue-Kei.com. We specialize in systems engineering consulting, project executions, process adoptions such as compliance to ISO15288, ARP 4754A, ISO 42020, digital transformations. We can also conduct capability development workshops which are experiential and tailored to your needs. With systems engineering adoption you can address the complexity, manage evolving risks and bring transformation in communication within your organization through digitalization and create the digital thread.