Overview
A workshop-intensive course addressing principles and methods for designing technology-based systems and products. It treats design as an integrated technical discipline, combining physical and logical architecture, model-based approaches, design optimisation, specialty engineering and interface considerations.
Course presenters may include
Expert Systems Engineering Professional (ESEP) · Member, INCOSE Crossroads of America Chapter
Systems engineering consultant and trainer with more than four decades in engineering, engineering management, consulting and training. PPI Principal Consultant and editor of PPI's Systems Engineering Newsjournal.
Foundations & practitioner developmentNeeds & requirementsArchitecture & designTechnical management
- Works with
- Project Performance International
- Regions
- United States
Modeling language, method and software
- Modeling language
- SysML v1 and v2
- Method
- Object Process Methodology (OPM)
Model-based design taught without commitment to a specific modeling language or software tool; includes a comparison of MBSE languages.
As stated on the provider's course page, checked 9 October 2026. Confirm the language version and software edition with the provider before booking.
Who should attend
- System architects
- Design engineers
- Systems engineers
- Enterprise architects
- Business analysts
- Systems analysts
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- Software systems engineers
- Software engineers
- Reliability, safety, maintainability and producibility engineers
- Hardware engineers
- Research engineers
- Project engineers
- Logistics Support Analysis specialists
- Industrial engineers
- R&D managers
- Engineering managers
Learning outcomes
- Understand the core concepts of a systems approach to design.
- Understand the principal process elements and relationships involved in design.
- Apply a structured approach to physical design.
- Use logical solution development to strengthen physical design.
- Evaluate and compare solution alternatives.
- Optimise designs using structured decision-making approaches.
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- Understand the role of reliability, safety, maintainability and producibility engineering.
- Tailor design principles and methods to different application contexts.
- Apply principles for designing for reliability, safety, maintainability and producibility.
Course outline
- 01
Introduction and the business case for systems-oriented design
Why disciplined design methods matter to project and enterprise outcomes.
- 02
Design principles
Core engineering principles, terminology and the relationship between design and the systems engineering process.
- 03
Development strategies
Waterfall, incremental, evolutionary and spiral approaches and their implications for solution development.
- 04
Physical and logical architecture
Physical architecture, logical architecture, architecture models, reference architectures, patterns and frameworks.
- 05
Initial physical conceptualisation
Technology and innovation, design-driver requirements, configuration-item selection and early physical concepts.
- 06
Functional design
Functional analysis, item and control flows, allocation, performance threads, FMEA/FMECA, behavioural modelling, SysML and MBSE-related methods.
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- 07
State-based design
State modelling, object orientation and alternative modelling approaches.
- 08
Object Process Methodology
Introduction to OPM and its relationship to other modelling approaches.
- 09
Design decision-making and optimisation
Measures of effectiveness, system effectiveness models, uncertainty, risk, trade studies and iterative optimisation.
- 10
Design for Six Sigma
Six Sigma concepts and design-related methods.
- 11
Detailed physical design and interfaces
Allocation to physical elements, specification trees, interface engineering and major design artefacts.
- 12
Engineering specialty integration
Incorporating specialty disciplines into the overall design process.
- 13
Concurrent engineering
Organisational and process aspects of concurrent or simultaneous engineering.
- 14
Reliability and safety engineering
Reliability measures and analysis, FMEA/FMECA, fault and event trees, HAZOP and safety assurance.
- 15
Maintainability engineering
Maintainability measures, design principles and verification of maintainability.
- 16
Producibility and broader design considerations
Designing with manufacturability and related lifecycle considerations in mind.
Interactive activities
- Basic design interactive exercise
- Capability-system design exercise
- Design principles workshop
- Development-strategy workshop
- Architectural design-driver workshop
- Physical conceptualisation workshop
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- Physical and functional design workshop
- State-based design workshop
- System-effectiveness / trade-study workshop
- Basic FMEA-related workshop
- Basic HAZOP workshop
Assessment and evaluation
No formal examination is stated. Learning is reinforced through extensive workshops using a common system and the work products produced during those workshops.
What participants receive
- Comprehensive course materials
- Supporting reading material
- Supplementary descriptions
- Checklists
- Forms
- Charts
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- Complimentary access to PPI's Systems Engineering Goldmine
- Certificate upon completion
- Professional Development Credits
Materials and resources
- Course presentation material
- Supporting reading material
- Checklists
- Forms
- Charts
- Systems Engineering Goldmine access
Certificate of completion
Certificate upon completion.
Certification and professional development
PPI states that Professional Development Credits are available.
Certification relevance indicates subject-matter relevance only. It does not imply accreditation, formal alignment or endorsement by any certifying body.
MBSE & modelling
Bertrandt Academy
Blended course on SysML fundamentals: model properties, general SysML concepts and the diagram types, applied by building a SysML model in two webinars; follows Bertrandt's SE/MBSE Module 1.
24 hours (blended: kick-off, two weeks of self-study, two 3-hour webinars)
- Regions
- Germany
- Access
- Public enrolment
- Delivery
- Live online · Self-paced · Hybrid
MBSE & modelling
Scarecrow Consultants
Three-day overview of MBSE and its use in an organization: people, process and tools, structural and behavioral modeling, views, and framework adoption.
Course facilitators may include: Jon Holt
3 days
- Regions
- United Kingdom
- Access
- Public enrolment · Private / corporate
- Delivery
- Face-to-face · Live online
Architecture & design
Project Performance International
Two-day introduction to a structured systems approach to design, including model-based techniques, trade studies and design-related engineering disciplines.
Foundation to practitioner2 days
- Access
- Private / corporate
- Delivery
- Face-to-face · Live online