# Systems Engineering Methodology for Designing Digital Public-Private Partnership Platforms
## 2 Definitions and Methods
### Methodology of Systems Engineering  
The main purpose of this study is to conceive proposals to develop a digital platform for public-private partnership participants and other interested parties. Taking into account the fact that the system is becoming increasingly complicated [8] due to the potentially wide variety of its participants, the systems engineering approach was chosen as the methodological basis for the development of the platform.  
As defined by the International Council on SE (INCOSE), systems engineering is a transdisciplinary and integrative approach facilitating the successful realization, use, and retirement of engineered systems, using systems principles and concepts, as well as scientific, technological, and management methods [33].  
There are different schools and features in the application of systems engineering, but the following basic practices of SE can be principally singled out:  
* Analysis of stakeholders and determination of their needs;
* Determining the target system;
* Requirements engineering;
* Architectural design;
* Verification and validation.  
This paper focuses on the first practice of the ones presented above. The requirements of stakeholders play an important role in the development of systems, as they [7]:  
* Form the foundation of the system requirements;
* Provide the basis for validation of the system and its acceptance by stakeholders;
* Serve as reference information within the integration and verification activities.  
The practice of stakeholder analysis within the SE allows us to identify the range of interested parties involved in the successful implementation, operation, and decommissioning of the system, a digital platform in our example. This step in the design of the system is usually necessary to identify the needs of future members of the system. Based on the needs recognized, we can identify a pool of tools and services to incorporate into the digital platform, i.e., define the boundaries of the digital platform and the interfaces of interaction with external systems. This basis further determines the requirements for the  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**The Concept of the DP** & **Definition** \\ \hline Multilateral Platform & Mediation of various user groups, including buyers and sellers \\ \hline Multilateral Markets &
\begin{tabular}{c} Uniting individual groups in one platform, where the value \\ of a group grows as the number of participants in other groups increases \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Direct Network External Factors & The value of the platform depends on the number of users \\ \hline Indirect Network External Factors & The value of the platform depends on the number of users \\ \hline Digital platform & Expandable codebase where additional third-party \\ (technical point of view) & modules can be added \\ \hline Digital platform (sociotechnical point of view) & Technical elements (software and hardware) and related \\ \hline Ecosystem & A set of add-ons (apps) to the main technical platform, \\ (technical point of view) & mostly provided by third-party organizations \\ \hline Ecosystem & A set of enterprises interacting to achieve the goal \\ (organizational point of view) & \\ \hline Applications & Executable pieces of software offered to end-users as \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Different definitions of the concept of the “digital platform” (DP) [31].  
system, its functionality, architecture, and technological solutions that will meet all the identified needs of interested parties.