System Architecting is the art and science of designing and building complex multi-disciplinary systems. The responsibility and the challenge for the System Architect is to translate the requirements of the many stakeholders into a system architecture blueprint, and technically leading a team to engineer, integrate and validate the resulting System-of-Interest. The Sytem Architect will do this based on understanding the problem domain, the business context, the human context, a solid knowledge of the solution domain, technology innovation roadmaps and preceding architectures. The System Architect provides the vision, develops the outline for an integral design, keeps the overview, takes care of the design consistency and provides the context for the development and engineering activities that will be carried out by, sometimes large, multi-disciplinary teams of engineering specialists.

This training is designed to let participants themselves experience the System Architect’s role, task, activities and responsibilities in the multi-disciplinary environment. Participants will use instruments, like CAFCR, to tackle architectural issues, like how to balance the many, often conflicting requirements, how to set up a Roadmap and the experience the basics for creating a Business Case.

The course gives a complete overview of the broad playing field and a variety of viewpoints that a System Architect needs to manage. It contains many exercises, worked out in small groups, that help to experience the broadness of the field. The addressed subjects help to understand the influence of the organization structure, the importance of focusing not only on technical aspects but also on business, process and human aspects and how to deal with these multidisciplinary viewpoints.

This training is available for open enrollment as well as for in-company sessions. For in-company sessions, the System Architect(ing) training can be adapted to your situation and special needs.

Objective

After successful completion of this course, the participant will have insight in:

  • the place of the System Architecting process in the Product Creation Process;
  • the activities, deliverables, responsibilities and profile of the System Architect;
  • the role of the System Architect in lean and agile processes, optimizing efficiency and effectiveness;
  • how to capture the important requirements and link these to key drivers;
  • the 5-view CAFCR framework, supporting the System Architecting process;
  • the value of multi-disciplinary models and views;
  • the importance of an early start of defining the system integration strategy;
  • the creation of a roadmap and the role of the System Architect in that process;
  • the importance of communication and how to pitch a technical message to higher management.

Target audience

This course is intended for (potential) system architects, system group leaders, system engineers, senior designers and project leaders. A few years of experience in system or product development, from any discipline like mechanics, physics, mechatronics, optics, electronics or software, with an interest in the integral multi-disciplinary architectural issues and affinity with the business aspects is essential.

Location (1)
Start date (1)
Duration 5 consecutive days
Frequency 4 times per year
Score
8.4
Price per participant € 3,650 excl. VAT *
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Program

  • System architecture process in relation to Product creation process;
  • Roles and tasks of a system architect;
  • Lean, agile, incremental development processes;
  • Modeling and views;
  • The CAFCR framework;
  • Requirements capturing;
  • Functional and non-functional or quality requirements;
  • System partitioning and decomposition;
  • System integration strategies;
  • Human aspects of the system architect role;
  • Roadmapping;
  • Financial aspects.

The 4 participants with the best pitch for their case will be rewarded with a copy of the book 'ASML's Architects'.

CAFCR FRAMEWORK

During this training the CAFCR framework, or CAFCR model, will be introduced. It contains the following views: Customer objectives, Application view, Functional view, Conceptual view, Realization view. You will learn how to use the CAFCR model during 5 small 1-on-1 exercises with lots of interaction and feedback.

CAFCR framework for system architects
The CAFCR framework by Gerrit Muller (www.gaudisite.nl). 

Methods

Every morning and every afternoon session consists of an interactive exploration of one of the subjects, a bit of lecture of the subject where the theory is explained and enlightened with practical examples of the seasoned trainers. A subject is finalized with an exercise, brainstorming and working in small parallel groups on the assignment.

In addition, participants work in small competing teams throughout the whole week in 4 iterations on a main-thread exercise from a ‘back-of-the-envelope’ assignment to a final presentation pitch.

You will receive a hard copy course binder with hand-outs of the presentation. You will also receive the book ‘System Architecting – a business perspective’,  by Gerrit Muller.

Certification

This course is certified by High Tech Institute.

Remarks from participants

"Interactive, interesting, effective, gets you into a new mindset."

Pieter Dirk Berkhout - Thetford 

"Interesting & insightful due to cross-industrial nature."

Bobby Daniel - NXP

"I'm very enthousiastic about the course. Especially by the way Ger teached us and the content of the course itself."

Anne Koet - Neopost Technologies

"I very much liked the balance between theory and practice. Duration of separate topics is very well balanced."

René van Acquoij - Océ Technologies