Systems Engineering Approach to Developing a Successful Business

• Main Author: De Anda, Frank
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School 2011
• Subjects: Engineering; Systems Engineering
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/378; https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1382&context=etd

Starting a business is never an easy task. Every entrepreneur wants a successful business at the end of a project, with "success" measured by how wen the business satisfies the requirements of the people who use it. So a goal-oriented entrepreneur wants to use any tools or techniques that help achieve success. Systems engineering provides those tools and techniques. The purpose of this paper will be to use fundamentals used in systems engineering to develop a business and marketing plan that will help Antoniette's Income Tax Services succeed and establish itself as a profitable and successful tax business. We will start off by using systems engineering to develop a business model for Antoniette' s Income Tax Services. The business model will act as a framework to identify customers, competition, markets analysis, and requirements. Next we will describe products and services offered. A detailed description of our marketing plan will lay the foundation for which Antoniette' s Income Tax Services will attract and retain customers. We will use System Architecture to help visualize, understand, and take in the scope and complexity of the business. Risk and ethical issues will also be considered. Value Stream Mapping will be used to identify and eliminate waste found in our business. Start up expenses and sources of capital will be discussed. Finally a financial plan will be created based on a 12 months estimated growth. Applying systems engineering techniques on a project doesn't guarantee success; not following a systems approach, however, is a strong recipe for failure. By the end of the document the goal is to show that systems engineering can be just as effective for nontechnical fields as it is for complex engineering projects.