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this module, we begin looking at How we determine what the customer needs are, what the mission might be or what poten8al opportuni8es exist..

 The primary objec8ve for this module is to understand the problem to be solved. This can also be stated as the need to be met. How do we know what the real problem/need/opportunity is? What is the mission deciency that we will address? OR What is the business opportunity we will try to exploit? We will also discuss: what are the aHributes of a good need statement? At the end of the module, students will be able to write a clear, coherent and lucid need statement that is solu8on-free. As systems engineers, we care about needs in order to fully understand the real problem to be solved. We do this without pre-supposing a solu8on. At the this module, we will also introduce the SYS625 team project. The project begins with a need, as the rst step in our technical processes. Note that the terms need, mission and opportunity statements are used interchangeably. In the military and some government organiza8ons, the mission typically will describe the problem space that the team is working within. In commercial organiza8ons, the term opportunity (as in market opportunity) is oVen used to describe what customers need. In this course, the term need is frequently used as the common term covering both an opportunity and mission.

Heres one view of what can happen when the customer needs are mis-understood or poorly scoped.

The need or mission statement addresses a need, a deciency, an opportunity, or a goal of a group of stakeholders (or poten8al stakeholders) Must be consistent with the customers or sponsoring organiza8ons mission (for large organiza8ons or the military); or must be consistent with insights resul8ng from market trends and compe88on analysis within the organiza8ons market and business space (for commercial companies) The need should be expressed in the language of the customer, not that of the designers The system is not the need its a response to the mission or need or market opportunity Be sure you are talking about a need, and not a solu8on. Note that on this slide, mission is used in two dierent ways, The organiza8onal mission refers to the overarching purpose of the organiza8on, and may include overall goals and purpose for the organiza8on. The need, opportunity, goal, deciency must be addressed within the context of the overall organiza8onal mission. The second use of the term mission refers to a par8cular problem statement (and is used most oVen in military and some government organiza8ons).

Here are some examples of organiza8onal mission statements for government and educa8onal organiza8ons. References: NASA website December, 2011 hHp://www.stevens.edu/sit/about/mission.cfm, December 2011 hHp://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/execu8ve-branch, December, 2011

Here are examples of organiza8onal mission statements for commercial organiza8ons. References accessed December 2011: Google at hHp://www.google.com/about/corporate/company/ AT&T hHp://www.aH.com/gen/investor-rela8ons?pid=5711 Amazon at hHp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-mediaKit

This mission statement is one of the examples available in the public domain. How does this mission statement for the ISS t within the overall NASA organiza8onal mission shown earlier? What is the actual mission or need for the ISS? The need or opportunity must t within the context of the overall organiza8onal mission. Reference: From President Reagans State of the Union, 1984

Is this statement a need or solu8on? How does this satellite system t within the larger mission of the Air Force (organiza8on)?

 Some needs fall into the category of a painkiller you HAVE to sa8sfy it NOW! Some needs fall into the category of a vitamin it will do you long term good. There is a greater need to build an engaging value proposi8on to cause this to happen.

To understand and scope a business or market need, commercial industries have to visualize how a product or system dieren8ates itself from compe88on. How much money do commercial businesses spend on understanding and assessing needs, opportuni8es and the compe88ve landscape? A LOT

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 Here are two examples of the failure to iden8fy the true need: Pause and read through the slide. There are more details in the Notes. The rst Picturephone test system was built in 1956. People, it turned out, didn't like Picturephone. The equipment was too bulky, the controls too unfriendly, and the picture too small. But the former Bell System (AT&T) was convinced that Picturephone was viable. Trials went on for six more years. In 1970, commercial Picturephone service debuted in downtown PiHsburgh and AT&T execu8ves condently predicted that a million Picturephone sets would be in use by 1980. Later in the 1970s this rst foray into video phone calls was cancelled. Not leqng a good technology die, however, AT&T re-vitalized the Videophone 2500 in 1990s. This version cost $1500 per unit ($2500 in current dollars) and that was just for 1 end of a point-to-point call! Needless to say, it did not take o, but surprisingly, 30,000 units were sold. What happened? Despite its improvements, Picturephone/Videophone was big, expensive, and uncomfortably intrusive. Despite the technological appeal to the AT&T execu8ves, there was liHle that consumers wanted with this solu8on. Of course now, 30 years aVer that fateful predic8on, the equivalent func8onality is easily available via personal webcam or Skype. From hHp://www.corp.aH.com/aHlabs/reputa8on/8meline/70picture.html The Boeing Sonic Cruiser evolved from engineering studies in the 1990s, and which oered the prospect of a new airliner which would cruise at up to Mach 0.98 (98% of the speed of sound, or about 650 mph), with fuel eciency similar to the then-current Boeing 767 wide- body jet. Conven8onal airliners, like the 767, cruise at about 570 mph, because their aerodynamic drag increases drama8cally above that speed. The Sonic Cruiser would use an

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How can companies succeed in a compe88ve marketplace? Are these factors for success? What are the issues with these?

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In looking at this list of innova8on drivers, how should systems engineers respond? How can they create needs/opportuni8es while considering these other factors?

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Compe88ve dieren8a8on: A dieren8ated product that delivers unique benets and superior value to the customer.

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So how do we determine a need? What are possible sources to consider? From an external perspec8ve, a need or opportunity can arise from Value proposi8on deciency; Market opportuni8es and threats Entering an en8rely new market Technology fusion or breakthrough Behavior analysis Accidental discovery

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A need or opportunity statement has a common form: A (stakeholder) needs to do something. (We will dene the term stakeholder shortly. Think of a stakeholder as customer, a user, an investor, an organiza8on.) Some8mes the stakeholders have an idea or beginning of a need (pull), and some8mes the market analysis makes the need clearer (push). How do you know if what you are designing is good enough? When the customer denes the solu8on (pulls the solu8on. I know what I want), that is not the same as understanding the reasons Why they want that par8cular solu8on. Understanding the ra8onale behind a pull is cri8cal to ensure the true need is understood. Similarly, a push can be where a company creates something, without understanding the need or the marketplace. Examples would be Boeings Sonic Cruiser or AT&Ts Picturephone.

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 So a stakeholder need or opportunity should be stated as a need to, rather than a need for. If a stakeholder ar8culates a need for something, ask Why? For example: The sales department needs a rela8onal data base. Why? The sales department needs to quickly access and correlate all data from a customer account. Do you see the dierence in understanding the need (3rd bullet) versus providing the solu8on (2nd)? Asking Why is an important technique to determine the true need.

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Be sure you are talking about a need in the domain and language of the customer and not a solu8on. Solu8on independence, and the language of the customer are indicators that you are thinking correctly about the need.

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Pause and read through this example of a need statement. We will use this par8cular case study throughout the course, for something called Online Purchasing. Think of a company like Amazon as you consider this need.

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Press pause to read this example. Here is an example need statement: Individual households have a need to insulate themselves from intermiHent power outages. This opportunity has become more visible as a result of rolling blackouts in California and elsewhere. The energy shortage is only going to get worse in the coming months and years, and there is an opportunity to develop and sell a capability for supplemen8ng the energy from the public u8lity with an independent power/energy source.

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Here is a detailed roadmap of the technical processes that we will follow for this class. We will be following the arrows, ending with the func8onal/physical views of a prospec8ve system. The follow on SYS650 Systems Architecture course will pick up with the func8onal architecture and go into more detail on the func8onal and physical views of the system. We will be coming back to this slide throughout the course so you will see it again. In this Module, we have been examining the rst box on the upper leV where deciencies are iden8ed or new technology/fusion is considered, or new behaviors are needed, or something is created by pure accident (think s8cky notes). The output of this (red boxed) step is a statement of need or opportunity, also called a mission. Addi8onally implementa8on approach (at a very high level) may also be provided (an example would be where this need would t in a legacy environment.)

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