Dual Vee Model - The Architecture Vee

The Architecture Vee

When developing complicated systems, a system engineer must manage a system baseline configuration from start to finish. The baseline can include design documents, user manuals, the product itself, and should answer every What?, Why?, and Who? for a system’s architecture. At each development phase, there will be changes to the system, which will change the baseline.

The core of the Vee is the evolving architecture baseline from initial requirements to a delivered system. The Architecture Vee produces the what, why, and who (which entity level) is responsible for a system’s architecture.

Downward off-Vee core investigations (figure - below) facilitate gaining knowledge to justify architecture baseline decisions made on the Vee core. Upward off core communication with customers and users facilitates in-process validation keeping the stakeholders abreast of and committed to the evolving baseline. Note that in all Vee representations time and maturity move from left to right. Just as we cannot move backward in time, so too one cannot move from right to left in the Vee model representation. Iteration is essential in system development, and all iteration is done vertically off-core, upward to users and customers (which is in-process validation), and downward for opportunity and risk management, as shown in the following figure.

The left leg off-Vee core investigations center around what concept is best and what architecture is best for that concept. For example, commercial products usually face the dilemma as to whether batteries should be standard, unique, replaceable, or not. Downward off-Vee core investigations and analysis can facilitate determining the most desirable approach that would then be baselined on the Vee core if the stakeholders agree. Similar investigations can prove the viability and technical feasibility of candidate concepts.

Right leg off-Vee core downward investigations (figure - below) are directed at investigating integration anomalies to determine their root cause and to correct them. Upward communication with stakeholders determines if they can live with the as-integrated and as-verified performance.

At each decomposition level there is a direct correlation between activities on the left and right sides of the Vee. This is deliberate. For example, the method of integration, verification, and validation to be used on the right must be determined on the left as concepts are defined at each decomposition level. This minimizes the chances that concepts are conceived in a way that cannot be carried out.