Do you work on the development of a complex system either as a procurer/sponsor or as a contractor/implementer, or do you intend to become a member of such a team? You will be much more successful if you are familiar with the general notions, processes, and actors of systems engineering. Ensuring that the product of each phase or component during the life cycle of the development satisfies the requirements of the sponsor is of utmost importance. System verification is the discipline of systems engineering aimed at this goal.

Jeffrey O. Grady gives a generic overview of system verification. All the motivations, aspects, actors, top-level notions, and bearings of the different parts belonging to the development process are introduced in a clear way. It is based on his knowledge and lifelong practice of creating complex military systems as the former systems development manager at General Dynamics, giving consulting services through his firm, and giving lectures and trainings. He was one of the founders of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and he has been qualified by this society for the highest of its three ranks: the expert systems engineering professional (ESEP) certification. Throughout his professional life, he wrote books on systems engineering; among them, he renewed since 1993 almost decennially this and its companion book System requirements analysis [1], so these are mature sources of expert views on their themes.

System architecture modeling expresses the artifacts, of which relationships are the objects of verification; the most important methods and languages are mentioned in this book. Among the proposed ones, the universal architecture description framework (UADF), the unified modeling language (UML), and the system modeling language (SysML) are nominated with emphasis when discussing specification, development, and test aspects. For example, the problems of system (and subsystem, component) verification are discussed at many dimensions from the points of view of both the sponsor and the developer. Only generic methods are mentioned, which can be specified and enriched with dedicated ones for the different application and implementation areas. The structures, relationships, and processes are exhibited in rich diagrams, figures, and tables. Templates suitable for the official closure of some phases to define the deliverables are also discussed within the chapters and collected in the appendices. Generic tools/products (software ones for requirement management, project management, language development environments, testing tools, or formal generation/verification tools) are not referred to. Among others, software engineering is an important domain for systems engineering; the specific problems and solutions of this field are not detailed in this book.

The book contains a glossary of important terms broken down according to the chapters, describing their meaning. The chapters describe the situation where the notions arise, then detail, discuss, and apply these notions.

The book starts with chapters describing and discussing the types of requirements, specifications, and the process of creating specifications, followed by descriptions of verification purposes and methods in chapter 4. Then, the main theme is detailed in eight chapters:

• Preconditions for implementing the verification processes,
• The kinds and processes of verification according to the kinds of specifications and the objects implementing them, and
• Qualification, test, verification, and acceptance of components and their interfaces, completed by those of the whole system.

The book contains a list of acronyms and an index of terms, as well. Terms used in the book lack precise references to external sources.

This and the previously mentioned companion book by Grady are valuable readings for managers and engineers of both sides of organizations: sponsors and contractors. In addition, systems architects and engineers should also consult the introductory material, textbooks, standard descriptions, services, and certification programs of the following organizations:

• INCOSE (http://www.incose.org/; UK Chapter: http://incoseonline.org.uk/) and
• Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering Project (BKCASE, http://www.bkcase.org/).