The Application of Systems Engineering to Software Development: A Case Study

he U.S. Navy’s Assessment Division (N81) integrates and prioritizes warfighting capability within resource constraints by using a joint campaign model to represent “what it takes to win” in the complex arena of multiservice regional conflict. N81 commissioned an assessment in the spring of 2006 to deter mine the feasibility and affordability of adding a maritime capability to the Synthetic Theater Operations Research Model (STORM) to make it an acceptable campaign model for the U.S. Navy staff. The result of this assessment was a partnership between the U.S. Navy’s N81 and the U.S. Air Force Air Staff’s Studies and Analyses Directorate (A9), under the project name “STORM+.” Replacing a legacy campaign model has broad impact on future investment decisions and can attract a wide range of stakeholders with an even wider range of requirements. This article describes how an APL team partnered with both the sponsor and the developer to implement systems engineering concepts to ensure a successful replacement of the existing deterministic U.S. Navy campaign model with a stochastic model created by adding a maritime warfare capability to STORM. The results indicate systems engineering can be successfully applied to a large, complex software development effort as long as the cultures of both the sponsor and the developer are appreciated and accommodated.