This paper attempts to answer the question whether it “pays” to apply SystemsrnEngineering methods, tools and techniques within a space project. To this purpose a possiblerncorrelation has been investigated between the Systems Engineering effort applied within arnnumber of space projects and the project result in terms of technical quality, cost and schedule.rnUse has been made of historical data derived from the results of Systems Engineering audits ofrnprojects, some recent audits performed along the same lines and assessments of project resultsrnin terms of technical quality, cost and schedule by the systems engineers involved in thernprojects. Basis for the audits is a checklist addressing 93 different aspects of SystemsrnEngineering in the field of requirements, concept design, design & development, verificationrnand technical management. In total nine data sets related to six projects in the industrial and thernacademic world were used.rnAlthough the data obtained are rather “noisy” there appears to be a clear positive correlationrnbetween the SE effort applied and the project result. It appears also that the positive effectsrnmainly show up in the cost and schedule results of the project, the technical quality of thernproject result being generally of a rather satisfactory level.rnExamining the results in detail the Systems Engineering effort in the field of requirements,rndesign & development and technical management has the strongest correlation with the projectrnresult. The effort in the field of (concept) design and verification shows a less strongrncorrelation.rnThe data have been “refined” by deleting the projects that were most strongly influencing therncorrelation in a positive sense. The overall results remained, however, the same.rnAn overview is given of those aspects generally receiving little attention in the SystemsrnEngineering effort. Further analysis of these results will be the subject of a follow-on study.
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