The Decision Analysis section of the Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) outlines the structured process for making technical decisions. This process involves conducting formal trade studies to evaluate alternatives against established criteria, which include functionality, performance, cost, schedule, and risk. The goal is to provide a transparent, repeatable, and defensible basis for selecting the most suitable option among competing alternatives. This ensures that all key stakeholder concerns are balanced and the final decision aligns with the overall project objectives and constraints.

1. NASA. (2016). NASA Systems Engineering Handbook (NASA/SP-2016-6105 Rev 2).

Reference: Appendix C

Section 4.3

"Decision Analysis Process

" page 268. It states

"This section of the SEMP describes the project’s decision analysis process... The process should cover how formal trade studies are conducted

documented

and used in the decision-making process."

2. International Organization for Standardization. (2015). ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015 Systems and software engineering — System life cycle processes.

Reference: Section 6.3.3

"Decision management process." The purpose of this process is "to provide a basis for decisions by evaluating alternatives against established criteria." This process is what is documented in the SEMP's Decision Analysis section.

3. National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2018). Systems Security Engineering: Considerations for a Multidisciplinary Approach in the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems (NIST SP 800-160

Vol. 1).

Reference: Appendix F.2

"Technical Processes

" page F-3. It describes the Decision Management Process from ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288

which involves analyzing "potential solutions against a set of weighted criteria to support decisions."

4. Defense Acquisition University. (2022). Systems Engineering Plan (SEP) Outline (Version 4.0).

Reference: Section 3.1.3

"Decision Analysis." The outline requires this section to "Describe the program’s trade-off analysis methodology and how it will be used to support decision making." The SEP is the Department of Defense's equivalent of a SEMP.