Functional Analysis and Functional Breakdown are techniques used in Systems Engineering to first identify a systems functions and then decompose them into their constituent parts and understand the relationships between them.
This allows us as the designers to have a clear functional architecture and set of functional interfaces.
The output of a Functional Analysis and Functional Breakdown is a functional decomposition diagram that provides a clear and concise understanding of the system's functions and a functional flow diagram that defines their relationships. This information is then used to inform the development of the system's architecture and detailed design. The lower level functions can then be grouped into logical groupings that minimise interfaces or allocated to system components.
This involves identifying the functions that a system needs to perform to meet its requirements. This is typically done by defining the system's high-level requirements and then breaking them down into more detailed functions.
Before performing a Functional Analysis:
By working through the list of system capabilites and reqiuirements it should then be possible to identify the system's top level functions. Note that these are the functions that the system must perform to meet its requirements.
This is the process of breaking down the functions identified in the Functional Analysis into smaller, more manageable components. This helps to clarify the relationships between different functions and components and provides a more detailed understanding of the system.
Decompose the System Functions: Break down each function into smaller, more manageable components.
Identify relationships between functions: Determine how the functions relate to each other and how they contribute to the overall system.
Create a functional decomposition diagram: Graphically represent the functions and their relationships to provide a clear and concise understanding of the system.