Planning Systems Integration Flashcards
Planning
Clear goals
Scheduling and planning
Presentation and management
Prioritisation and risk management
Communication
Personal Development
Flexibility, resilience, assertiveness
system integration:
Build up sub-groups and then test everything together
Prioritise
Urgency Vs Importance
Why is automation hard
Has to react to faults
Multi-skill and process knowledge
Less flexible than humans
Make sure there is a common language
PLanning
Define challenege
Identify risks
Generate alternative solutions, evaluate and select
Plan
Implement, integrate, commission and test
Define a challenge
Create a Specification
Should cover all functionality
Starts from what and translates into how
Build to design details
Prove ideas
Promotes common understanding
Unambiguous
Testable statements
Contractual significance
Takes time, money and effort
Biggest success/failure factor
Think about what needs to be achieve rather than specifically what the client wants
Think outside the box vs asking people who might know already
Lessons
Be suspicious of suggested solutions to problems- make sure it actually works
Shift the risk to the client
Provide hard data
Test wherever possible
Prototype risky areas
Flexibility is key
Identify Risks
Failure Mode Effects Analysis
What failures can you conceive?
What causes it?
How likely is the failure?
What is the severity of the failure?
What is the likelihood of automatic detection?
Multiply factors together to give weighting
Redesign and iterate based on weighting
Interfacing
Physical interfacing
Systems must be physically connected and working envelopes must not interfere
Electronic network interfaces
Bandwidth
Interference
Coordination
Data specs
Interface definitions
Different organisations may interpret interface specifications in different ways
Risky Business
Things you know you don’t know - can be managed
The unknown unknown - will catch you out
Consciously seeking out risks will reduce the number of unknowns
Plan
Never enough time
Identify long lead, difficult and risky items early
Break tasks up into smaller tasks
Have visible milestones
Design reviews, interface, iterative development
Prototype ASAP`
Integration and Issues
Integration
Several teams or manufacturers will be involved in developing the various system components
It is unlikely that anyone will be an expert on all these components
It is even less likely that people from one team or manufacturer will know much about other products
Problems
Hardware: physical incompatibility
Software: Incompatible data structures
Electrical: signal levels, wiring errors
Interface: mechanical fit, sensor abilities, robot reach
Incremental Integration
Big bang integration is rarely successful
Put sub-systems together in increments
If problems emerge, they’ll likely be from the new sub-system
Testing
Test the machine elements one at a time
Test in fully finished state
Use real product for testing
