Understanding System of Systems Management: A Systematic Review and Key Concepts

The growth of knowledge required for the management of software projects is directly related to the growth of systems' complexity and integration efforts. In this sense, Systems Engineering and Project Management teams must strengthen their relationships toward being involved in large-scale projects. This relationship is even more challenging in System of Systems Engineering, in which different constituent systems for achieving a common goal. The management of system of systems is an open research area with several gaps, especially those related to authority, responsibility, and scale. This article investigates approaches for an improved management of system of systems and constituent systems. A systematic review was conducted for the understanding of the current gaps related to managerial concepts in the system of systems context, as well as problems, challenges, and benefits. Open research issues have been delineated and a set of appropriate definitions related to both management and governance has been established. The systematic review returned 3495 studies that mostly describe best practices for the management, and 31 were selected for data extraction. Our aim is to open new perspectives of research, toward contributing to the management of system of systems.

Automated summary

The growth of knowledge required for software project management is directly connected to the complexity and integration efforts of systems. Therefore, Systems Engineering and Project Management teams need to strengthen their collaboration in order to participate in large-scale projects. This is particularly challenging in System of Systems Engineering, where different constituent systems are built to achieve a common goal. This article investigates approaches to improve the management of system of systems and constituent systems, and establishes appropriate definitions for management and governance.