Survey results on system engineering in Europe A report documenting the results of a system engineering survey, conducted during the last quarter of 1997 by the European Software Institute (ESI), has recently been published. The aim of the survey was to identify the system engineering (SE) needs of European organisations, ... A report documenting the results of a system engineering survey, conducted during the last quarter of 1997 by the European Software Institute (ESI), has recently been published. The aim of the survey was to identify the system engineering (SE) needs of European organisations, in order to define the most suitable model to meet their requirements. Companies were asked about both their current and desired SE practices. The survey represents the first attempt to examine the broader organisational context of the SE process, which is now accepted as being very important for product quality. The ultimate aim of the exercise is to support the development of a model which will provide a rapid and well understood path to facilitate the transition of software intensive system developers from software process improvement to system process improvement. The first chapter of the report outlines the procedure adopted in writing and issuing the questionnaire. In order to gain an understanding of who is currently involved in SE, the second chapter looks at the respondents to the survey, firstly by company and then individually. In the later sections, four different approaches are used to analyse the survey results, with the first approach identifying broad trends, followed by examinations of the responses in relation to company size, the type of system and finally according to respondent. The analysis performed has led to a variety of conclusions which are documented in the report. These include the lack of common understanding about the scope of SE, the informal functioning of existing SE practices and the need for a generic SE process model to improve the definition of the system requirements.
