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Apprenticeship training course

Systems engineer (degree) (level 7)

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Information about Systems engineer (degree) (level 7)

Solving some of the most complex engineering challenges by organising all the information needed to understand the whole problem, exploring it and finding the most appropriate solution.

Knowledge, skills and behaviours
View knowledge, skills and behaviours

Knowledge

  • Systems engineering lifecycle processes
  • The role a system plays in the super system of which it is a part
  • The characteristics of good quality requirements and the need for traceability
  • The distinction between risk, issue, and opportunity and the different forms of treatment available
  • The benefits and risks associated with modelling and analysis
  • How creativity, ingenuity, experimentation and accidents or errors, often lead to technological and engineering successes and advances
  • Different types of systems architecture and techniques used to support the architectural design process (i.e. the specification of systems elements and their relationships)
  • Non-functional design attributes such as manufacturability, testability, reliability, maintainability, affordability, safety, security, human factors, environmental impacts, robustness and resilience, flexibility, interoperability, capability growth, disposal, cost, natural variations, etc.
  • Integration as a logical sequence to confirm the system design, architecture, and interfaces
  • Interface management and its potential impact on the integrity of the system solution
  • Systems verification against specified requirements and characteristics and the need to execute it in a logical sequence
  • The relationship between verification, validation, and acceptance
  • The purpose and importance of system validation in relevant commercial context
  • Scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics fundamentals and a broad technical domain knowledge for the relevant industry
  • How to take account of health and safety legislation and sustainable development requirements in the relevant industry
  • The relationship of service quality to user satisfaction and cost, risk, and availability of the operational system
  • The elements of a project management plan (including statement of work, work breakdown structure, resource allocation, scheduling, management plan, monitoring, risk management, change requests, record keeping, and acceptance)
  • The commercial and financial environment in which a project is being executed (e.g. procurement model, interest rates, exchange rates)
  • The role of systems engineering planning as part of an overall project/programme plan
  • The legal, commercial, and security constraints that affect the management of data and information (e.g. General Data Protection Regulation, handling of specific commercial contract restrictions)
  • Support and sustainability needs of a deployed system or product

Skills

  • Select appropriate lifecycle for a system or element of a system and establish its lifecycle stages and the relationships between them
  • Define context of a system from a range of viewpoints including system boundaries and external interfaces
  • Use appropriate methods to analyse stakeholder needs to produce good quality, consistent requirements with acceptance criteria and manage them throughout system development
  • Identify, analyse, recommend treatment, and monitor and communicate risks and opportunities throughout project
  • Generate a physical, mathematical, or logical representation of a system entity, phenomenon or process
  • Apply creativity, innovation and problem solving techniques to system development or operation
  • Define the systems architecture and derived requirements to produce an implementable solution that enables a balanced and optimum result that considers all stakeholder requirements across all stages of the lifecycle.
  • Identify, define, and control interactions across system or system element boundaries
  • Assemble a set of system elements and aggregate into the realised system, product, or service using appropriate techniques to test interfaces, manage data flows, implement control mechanisms, and verify that elements and aggregates perform as expected
  • Define verification plans (including tests) to obtain objective evidence that a system of system element fulfils its specified requirements and characteristics
  • Provide objective evidence that the operational system fulfils its business or mission objectives and stakeholder requirements and expectations.
  • Communicate effectively with all stakeholders of the project using the most appropriate medium and techniques including written and verbal presentation,
  • Integrate a system into its operational environment, including the provision of support activities (e.g. specification of site preparation, training, logistics, etc.)
  • Define and collect operation data for monitoring and control of a system
  • Initiate design change proposals in response to system failure or degradation
  • Create and maintain project management plan, including work breakdown structure, scheduling, and risk management
  • Balance project scope, time, cost, risk, and resources to optimise product or service quality and return on investment
  • Manage and control system elements and configuration over the project or programme lifecycle ensuring overall coherence of the design is maintained in a verifiable manner throughout the lifecycle
  • Plan, execute, and control the storage and provision of information to stakeholders.
  • Define, coordinate and maintain effective and workable plans across multiple disciplines
  • Identify concepts and ideas in sciences, technologies and engineering disciplines beyond their own discipline that could benefit the project solution
  • Partition between discipline technologies and work with specialists to derive discipline specific requirements

Behaviours

  • Adopt and encourage within the team an holistic thinking approach to system development
  • Perform negotiations with stakeholders recognizing different styles of negotiating parties and adapts own style accordingly
  • Adopt and encourage within the team a critical thinking approach using a logical critique of work including assumptions, approaches, arguments, conclusions, and decisions
  • Take personal responsibility for health and safety practices and sustainable development
  • Operate with integrity and in an ethical manner, and ensure that team members perform with integrity and in an ethical manner
  • Take a proactive and systematic approach to resolving operational issues
  • Maintain awareness of developments in sciences, technologies and related engineering disciplines.
Apprenticeship category (sector)
Engineering and manufacturing
Qualification level
7
Equal to master’s degree
Course duration
48 months
Maximum funding
£21,000
Maximum government funding for
apprenticeship training and assessment costs.
Job titles include
  • Systems engineer

View more information about Systems engineer (degree) (level 7) from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.