Using Systems Architecture Views to Assess Integration Readiness Levels

Systems integration is a central element of the complex systems development effort. The integration readiness levels (IRL) scale complements technology readiness levels (TRL) to assess the system development maturity, representing risk levels for integrating technologies in a system. The increasing complexity of systems, due to multiple interfaces and an information-centric architecture, demands new systemic approaches to analyze the architecture and communicate IRL assessments. Therefore, this article developed a methodology to apply IRL using architecture views through the design structure matrix and domain mapping matrix. A case study analyzed technology introduction impacts and different integration strategies for space systems from China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program at the system and system-of-systems levels. Through the design science method, results show the pragmatic evaluation and validation for the proposed method and for the IRL scale itself, by professionals of the case study projects. The research draws suggestions for holistic system analysis and managerial communication applications using the proposed method and suggests a rationale for IRL assessment of legacy systems.