System Integration

Dedicated to the dissemination of System Integration information

The first place you must start System Integration (S.I.) is with the customer.  They liaise with the Project Management and Technical Management staff to develop a set of requirements.

 

The various sub-systems are then developed according to the requirements.

 

System Integration then carry out what I would call ‘general integration’, i.e. they know what is eventually required of the system, they turn the system on, see what state the system is in and start to investigate system operability from this baseline, investigating failures, performance issues etc.

 

Once the system is of such a state that it is approaching the required level they start to do ‘dry runs’ of the formal tests, they need to ensure that it will pass the formal tests.  This may generate more work and fixes.

 

Once System Integration is happy that the system is ready for formal tests they are carried out, probably with the customer present.  Once everyone is satisfied that the system meets the customer requirements some type of certification process takes place, i.e. a formalisation of the test results.  This signifies that the customer is satisfied that the system meets the requirements and is fit for delivery.

 

It is also possible to define S.I. in a more generic manner, i.e. at a higher level of abstraction, if you are able to describe S.I. at a higher level of abstraction you are able to learn lessons, to recognise a situation from one that you have previously met.

 

The System Integration Process

The image below shows my definition of the System Integration process.