The discipline of specifying user information requirements, designing a logical system that can produce the required information, determining the most appropriate way to physically process data, and to successfully implement the physical system. The objectives of the Systems Engineer are: To produce a RELIABLE information system that will satisfy user information requirements and perform according to specifications. To produce an information system that is easy to MAINTAIN and MODIFY. To physically implement an information system in the most PRACTICAL, EFFICIENT, and COST EFFECTIVE manner possible.

(SE). Systems engineering started to emerge as a formal discipline in the 1950s, primarily driven by the US DoD programs of the era.

The application of engineering to solutions of a complete problem in its full environment by systematic assembly and matching of parts in the context of the lifetime use of the system.

A structured process for arriving at a final design of a system. The final design is selected from a number of alternatives that would accomplish the same objectives and considers the total life-cycle of the project including not only the technical merits of potential solutions but also the costs and relative value of alternatives.

A process whereby a set of required functions are analyzed, defined, and allocated to portions of the system.