Lessons from experience – 25 years in acceptance planning for defence customers

Mike Sneddon, Atkins (a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group), United Kingdom

Abstract

An integrated systems engineering approach aligned to ISO 15288 goes a long way towards securing delivery of assured capability. A ‘customer’ perspective on Integrated Test, Evaluation and Acceptance (ITEA) is presented based on 25 years’ experience of applying the ITEA planning process with the UK Ministry of Defence.

The pros and cons of prescriptive vs collaborative approaches are discussed, along with commercial considerations and balancing ‘the risk of not knowing’ against ‘the cost of finding out’. The practicalities are considered of managing ‘planning’ and then ‘implementation’ of ITEA, not just of new systems, but of Capability in the round.