‘Right-Sizing’ Systems Engineering for New Zealand Projects

10 Dec 2025

Conference

New Zealand Systems Engineering Conference 2025

Title

‘Right-Sizing’ Systems Engineering for New Zealand Projects

Summary

Large transport and infrastructure projects in New Zealand have become increasingly complex, creating a growing need for structured Systems Engineering (SE). Over the past five years, SE adoption has improved in NZ transport projects, but its application has remained uneven across the full range of processes outlined in ISO 15288 and the INCOSE Handbook. This presentation aims to:

Highlight where SE practices have been successfully applied
Identify opportunities for improvement and broader uptake
Use the Interisland Resilient Connection (iReX) project as a case study to illustrate current practices and gaps.

The ultimate goal is to spark a conversation within the NZ SE community about shared perceptions of these gaps and prioritise areas for action. If consensus emerges, this could lead to the formation of a sub-committee to develop strategies for addressing these gaps, similar to previous initiatives focused on SE in business cases. The discussion acknowledges that current insights are based on detailed design experience and invites feedback from those with expertise in earlier lifecycle stages to build a more holistic view.

Key takeaways:

Systems Engineering practices have expanded in NZ transport projects, but their application remains inconsistent across lifecycle stages, limiting end-to-end system assurance.
The iReX project showed strong SE benefits in architecture, interface management, and requirements traceability, but highlighted challenges in early design phases and alignment with other disciplines.
Future improvements should focus on embedding SE earlier in business cases, aligning with digital engineering, and building trust and contractual enforcement to strengthen SE influence across all processes.

Authors

Dr John Welford PhD CSEP CEng, Systems Engineering Lead, WSP New Zealand

Steve Wallace CSEP CPEng, Principal Systems Engineer, Shoal Group

Date

Wednesday 12 November 2025

Learn more

‘Right-Sizing’ Systems Engineering for New Zealand Projects

About Shoal

Shoal is complex systems design company. We use Systems Engineering combined with Modelling, Simulation and Analysis to help our clients define, analyse, decide, optimise, and deliver technology-intensive projects in complex environments across Defence, Space, Transport, Energy and Infrastructure.

More: shoalgroup.com