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Unit 9: System Engineering

some special expertise. There is, therefore, a need for communication among team members. Notes
Some facets of the discussion have their basis in this communication requirement.

Figure 9.11: Modeling and Simulation Process

Project Description

The process begins with the preparation of a document called the project description. This
document includes a statement of the project goal(s) and a description of those behavioural
features of the SUI that have relevance to the goals. These behaviour features are typically
formulated in terms of the various entities that populate the space that the SUI embraces with
particular focus on the interactions among these entities. It is, more or less, an informal description
inasmuch as it relies mainly on the descriptive power of natural language. The language is,
furthermore, often heavily coloured with jargon associated with the SUI. This jargon may not be
fully transparent to all members of the project team and this can contribute to both an inherent
lack of precision and, as well, to communication problems.
With few exceptions, the SUI also has structural features that provide the context for the interactions
among the entities (e.g., the layout of the pumps at a gas station or the topology of the network

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