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A Systems Approach to Product and Service Design

Certificate ID: CESC1
Learn the systems approach to designing products and services, addressing the needs of stakeholders, thinking through problems with greater rigor, and presenting ideas more effectively—all vital skills which can be applied to almost any field or industry.

Description

Systems design is the process of defining and developing a system to satisfy specified requirements of the marketplace for a product or service.

Through the Cornell Systems Approach to Product and Service Design certificate program, students will learn a proven eight-step methodology and structured process that will allow them to take an idea to the point where they can hand it off to a production/engineering/service team for completion. Students will also gain the skills necessary to evaluate whether the end-product or service was designed properly.

Authored by Professor Peter Jackson, Director of Systems Engineering at Cornell University, the certificate program goes beyond a textbook approach and uses a problem-based instruction. These six two-week courses combine the principles of systems engineering with the simplicity of design for Six Sigma. No special expertise in math or engineering principles is required, making the program accessible and appropriate for professionals from a wide range of backgrounds.

The method, concepts and process taught in this innovative program have been validated by engineers, project managers, engineering professors and executives at leading organizations, including Lockheed and Xerox.

There is a right way to design products and services. You will learn it in this unique certificate program, which brings key concepts to life and makes them applicable for a lifetime.

The courses in this Certificate in Systems Approach to Product and Service Design will enable you to:

Learn a structured methodology for designing products/services the right way
Avoid the pitfalls that can lead to “designs gone wrong”
Learn to effectively communicate design requirements across an organization
Understand how systems interact and “talk” to each other
Develop tools that can be applied to a broad range of initiatives
Gain confidence in developing new products/services
Learn how to lead new organizational initiatives
Focus on product/service design without needing expertise in math or engineering principles
Benefit from one top 10 engineering programs in the country

Who Should Take This Certificate?

This certificate is indispensable for individuals involved with the design, development, and production of products, and service implementations. This includes engineers, project managers, marketing and product line managers, design managers and others who come into contact with system design processes. It is also appropriate for hands-on executives whose companies rely on maintaining a competitive advantage with their products and/or services.

Enrollment

To register, contact an Enrollment Counselor at info@ecornell.com or 1-866-eCornell (+1-607-330-3200 from outside the United States).

Certificate programs are eligible for eCornell Payment Plans. Discounts are available for military personnel, veterans, and Cornell University Alumni. eCornell programs are not eligible for financial aid or federal Pell Grants. Contact an enrollment counselor for more information.

Courses in this Certificate

Getting Started on Product and Service Design
- Businesses thrive on the strength of their products and services, and behind every great product or service is the right design process. System design is a formal approach to the process that maximizes the chances of discovering the right concept, selling it to internal stakeholders, identifying uses for it in the marketplace, and gathering requirements before starting the next stage of planning.
  
  Every business is looking for the next killer product or service in its industry. But breakthroughs don’t occur by chance; the road to building a popular, innovative product or service is often circuitous and offers challenges that are best overcome by applying the right product and service design process.
  
  This course will provide you with the skills you need to identify the right idea, prepare it for internal buy-in, and get it to market. Unique it its behavioral emphasis, the course will address the concept of customer-focused design and the importance of thinking through what it will be like to use the product or service being developed. Along the way, you will learn how to brainstorm and select a concept, write a mission statement, identify the internal stakeholders, gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer experience, and define functional requirements for your product or service.
  
  Anyone whose job involves developing, marketing, or managing products or services should take this course, authored by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell University’s Systems Engineering Program. Engineers and other technical specialists will learn how to best apply their talents—for example, by learning to identify which concepts are worth the effort of development and which are dead-ends. Marketers and managers will gain a deep understanding of the origins and impact of customer behavior, as well as important perspectives on product and service usage.
  Course Description
Targeting Product and Service Designs to Customers' Needs
- In the first course in this certificate program, Getting Started on Product and Service Design, you’ve identified a promising new product or service that can give your company a competitive edge. Now it’s time to align your design plan more closely with what customers want, set targets for performance, and achieve them.
  
  This course, written by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell University’s Systems Engineering Program, will give you the training you need to answer tough questions faced by engineers, product managers, marketers, and CEOs:
  - How do you calibrate and measure customer needs?
  - How do you benchmark the competition to see how to gain the advantage over them?
  - How do you rank and weight product objectives in order to decide what to emphasize?
  - How do you define technical requirements in a customer-driven way?
  As you learn how to answer these core questions, you will create competitive advantage and add value to your company. If your role involves the creation, quality, or management of products and services, this course will give you field-tested, repeatable methods for building demand into your product or service. You will learn how to set and meet objectives for your product that are based on customer needs, business objectives, and competitor gaps; this essential information will give your product or service a significant edge, and can go a long way toward ensuring that your offering is already successful by the time it goes to market.
  
  Instead of merely hoping that your product or service will resonate in the marketplace—ensure it. When you finish taking this course, you’ll have all the tools and models you need to establish—and achieve—the right goals.
  Course Description
Exploring the Design Space and Optimizing the Design
- With the help of the first and second courses in this certificate program, you’ve identified a promising new product or service that can give your company an edge, and learned how to set performance targets for it based on customer demand. In Exploring the Design Space and Optimizing the Design, you’ll learn to view your concept from many different angles, and examine the requirements and components of your concept in greater detail.
  
  This course, authored by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell’s Systems Engineering Program, will teach you how to transition successfully from raw concept to polished design. You’ll learn how to avoid the pitfalls of rushing the process and neglecting to examine your concept from all angles.
  
  In this course, you’ll examine competitor products in depth, collaborating with customer experts, and performing relevant patent searches—all of which will take your design one step closer to market. Once you’ve learned how to explore the design space and optimize the design properly, you’ll be prepared to turn a concept into a market-ready solution. Managers will learn how to answer future customer queries about the product, and how to anticipate sales and marketing angles. Engineers and other technical employees will learn how to get the most value out of their designs, and how to prepare concepts for the next stages of design.
  Course Description
Thinking Through the Structure of System Design
- The best idea in the world is worth nothing to your business if it can’t be executed. Getting execution right begins with giving design and development teams the precise information they need to move from the inputs—functions, requirements, interfaces, and components—to a finished product or service.
  
  A concept cannot be handed off unless the system design has been revisited to make certain that you can summarize its behavior, understand how the system interacts with its subsystems, and manage and predict the different changes that the system will undergo. Communicating this information clearly to all design stakeholders can be challenging.
  
  In this course, authored by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell’s Systems Engineering Program, you will learn how to speak that common language, remove ambiguity from the design process, and ensure a smooth handoff from the concept design team to those who will execute the concept.
  
  You will emerge from this course with a rigorous understanding of your role in the handoff from concept to design. A wide array of stakeholders (from engineers to managers) are involved in this transition, and the successful launch of a product or service requires an understanding of the language and processes of architecture. Through this course, you’ll acquire a detailed, point-by-point knowledge of the design architecture process and come one step closer to going to market with a winning product or service.
  Course Description
Ensuring the Success of Product and Service Design
- Risk management has been long been a blind spot for global business. Before taking a product or service from concept into production, you must perform due diligence to determine whether the design addresses your requirements, hits your performance targets, and can be properly tested.
  
  In system design, risk will be present, and it is vitally important to learn how to identify, quantify, and manage it. This course, authored by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell’s Systems Engineering Program, will teach you how to run a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) in order to quantify and manage risk; the course will also provide real-life examples to illustrate the practical dimensions of risk management and communicate what’s at stake if shortcuts are taken.
  
  There are opportunities to take corrective action when flaws are discovered in the design concept and processes. This course covers how to problem-solve in order to reduce the severity of negative outcomes, and how to deploy the FMEA process to prioritize corrective actions. Students will fill out real-life worksheets and participate in informative exercises that teach occurrence likelihood rating, severity rating, risk priority numbers (RPS), and other valuable concepts. Also, models introduced in previous courses will be used, allowing learners to gain a deeper understanding of applied risk management. By the end of the course, all participants will understand the steps necessary to identify, quantify, and mitigate risk.
  Course Description
Executing and Improving System Design
- In the previous courses in this certificate program, you have explored product and service design from the early concept stage through verification and risk management. In Executing and Improving System Design, you’ll learn how to hand off a design to production. Having developed the architecture of system design, you will now need to make sure it is properly executed, that your performance criteria are met, and that process waste is minimized.
  
  No company can afford to waste time, resources, and inventory—or deal with quality problems, product recalls, and lawsuits. To successfully field a perfect product or service while minimizing the risks and staying within tight parameters, it’s imperative to know how to ensure a smooth handoff from development to production.
  
  This course, authored by Professor Peter Jackson of Cornell’s Systems Engineering Program, will teach you how to master and re-use your knowledge of system design, enabling you to be faster and more innovative the next time you go through the product development process.
  
  Managers know that the most valuable aspect of strategy is execution. Whether your role is to oversee product development or you’re responsible for technical outputs, this course will complete your system design education and give you the tools you need for a successful handoff to production. The knowledge you gain will put you in control of the process, allowing you to track and manage your design through every stage of execution, knowing just what to expect at any point.
  
  As the final course in the certificate program, you will emerge with a functional and customized system design plan—which you’ve used in every course and which can now be applied to your own business.
  Course Description

Accreditation

Participants who successfully complete all six courses in this certificate series will receive a Certificate in A Systems Approach to Product and Service Design from Cornell University’s College of Engineering.

Technical Requirements

With all eCornell courses, access is easy. Participants only need a computer and an Internet connection. To view specific technology requirements, visit our Technology Requirements page.