A Project-Product Lifecycle Management approach for improved systems engineering practices

Developing and sustaining complex systems requires collaboration of multidisciplinary teams, coordination of processes, methods and tools, allocation of resources, and utilization of adequate facilities within enterprises. Engineering and management of a system comprises three intertwined domains: the product, the project and the enterprise. Despite the obvious links between them, each domain is distinct and uses its own ontology and toolset. This conceptual separation hinders effective handling of the project and product lifecycle activities within the enterprise. The unified ProductProject Lifecycle Management (PPLM) collaborative research project aims to establish, implement, and evaluate a methodology for managing and engineering complex enterprise-wide systems. The resulting software environment will serve as a test bed for proof-of-concept of the PPLM vision and approach. The comprehensive PPLM methodology with its software implementation is expected to enhance enterprise-level systems engineering and management by unifying the product and the project within which it is developed. The paper presents and illustrates the PPLM vision and framework.