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The capability to predict the reliability of complex systems that must be deployed without overly prolonged or expensive testing is of increasing importance to the military test and evaluation community. The presentation of subsystem reliability data to an artificial neural network is a critical factor in the capability of such networks to produce accurate system predictions. By producing a matrix of values corresponding to subsystem reliabilities, using a zero (0) for a nonexistent parallel resource and a one (1) for a nonexistent series subsystem, it was possible to train an artificial neural network to accurately predict the overall system reliability.

Parallels between divergent thought processes, studied in creativity research by developmental psychologists, and the intellectual control imperatives of systems engineering are examined. A metaphorical template of the systems engineer's thought processes as defined by and taught from the standpoint of convergence is presented, and a core set of training modules to aid in evolving systems engineers from domain engineer stock is recommended. A. D. Hall's 1969 model of the systems engineer's thought structure is resurrected and is found to still apply to the convergent mode of systems engineering training. It is suggested that teaching systems engineers to develop divergent thought processes is analogous to teaching "creativity" in other fields. An examination technique, employed with success in a related field (e.g., Microsoft certification), that uses the traditional "convergent" multiple choice question, but forces divergent thinking to arrive at the "correct" answer, is discussed.

Abstract. To date, the systems engineering roles described focus on those within an engineering firm and ignore the need for a systems engineer who advises, and acts in behalf of, the client separate from the organization building the system. The software systems engineering community has failed the customers by not providing a process for bridging the gulf between the contractor and the customer in an objective manner.The additional systems engineering roles described, that of the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative and the Client's System Engineer, bridge that gulf and improve the integrity of the process. The focus of this paper is on Department of Defense contracts but the prinicple is true for major software systems efforts.

This paper illustrates how systems engineering is conducted at the lower end of the business, where the customer usually will not pay for the design of a system unless the costs are integrated into the price of the delivered product. Many low-end customers do not have a clear concept of what they want a practitioner to provide. This paper presents the practitioner's view of engineering in the small, and demonstrates a strategy for finding out what the customer really wants.