Abstract
System analysis methods are used to systematically gain information about a system. They should start as early as possible because costs caused by undetected deficiencies typically increase exponentially during product development time. An accompanying analysis of a product also helps the analyst to better understand the product and to take up implicit developer knowledge. The chapter introduces general concepts and terms of system analysis: working system definition of modern systems, system boundaries, inductive and deductive analysis, graphical and tabular approaches, and qualitative and quantitative approaches. Different expected and unexpected failure types are explained from component and system perspective. Verbose definitions are given for reliability, safety, and different kinds of redundancy. Using a combinatorial approach, it explains why theoretical system analyses are more practicable than testing system samples.