Interactive models as a system design tool: Applications to system project management

Abstract Frequent and significant cost and schedule overruns in large aerospace and defense projects are hypothesized to be attributed to limitations on designers’ perception of complex systems. New design methods and tools to improve perception could reduce design effort. This paper extends an existing model of system project management to incorporate new methods for collaborative modeling and rapid sensitivity analysis using web- and browser-based technologies. A JavaScript-based API and model implementation in the system dynamics formalism replicate previous model results. Performance benchmarks demonstrate model execution in around 100 milliseconds on consumer hardware. Data storage and remote model execution services compose and query model results across executions. Browser-based user interfaces and visualizations allow users to interact with model components and provide batch model execution, tradespace exploration, sensitivity analysis, and time series comparison.