At Booz Allen Hamilton, we define Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) as the science and art of assembling components of a system to assure expected performance, within cost and schedule.
The “science” component of SE&I entails classic systems engineering and program management disciplines, while the “art” of SE&I involves mastery of the acquisition processes and leadership environments in which a program resides.
Booz Allen’s SE&I professionals help mitigate risk and improve performance at every phase of the acquisition and systems development life cycle, from creating preliminary architectural designs to developing a system baseline, and from overseeing integrated master plans and schedules to managing security issues and other risks.
How difficult is the modern integration challenge? A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report cites that in the US Department of Defense (DoD), nearly half of its major programs were running at least 25 percent over budget and experiencing average delays of nearly two years.
The rise of system-of-system programs and network-centric solutions has dramatically increased the inherent risk of large-scale defense, intelligence, and civil system acquisitions. Many systems extend beyond traditional program, command and even agency boundaries, further complicating the task of integrating subsystem and components while synchronizing activities, budgets and schedules.
