Editor's Corner

A very warm welcome to you if you are a returning SEBoK user, and in particular to anyone new to the SEBoK. As BKCASE Editor in Chief (EIC) I have overall responsibility for the continuing review and update of the SEBoK. Many thanks to the BKCASE Governors and the current members of the Editorial Board for their support during my first year in the job.

SEBoK v. 1.3.1

SEBoK v. 1.3.1 is a micro release which continues our commitment to regular review of the information referenced in our Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge. Some of the updates planned for a more significant update to SEBoK v. 1.4 have been delayed by external factors. In particular updates to key external sources such as the INCOSE Handbook and ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 have a significant knock on effect for the SEBoK. Other activities within our sponsoring organizations on key topics such as model based systems engineering, systems of systems, systems engineering leadership, etc. must also be carefully considered before they are incorporated in our guide. Work has already begun on new and revised material to reflect these changes within the wider knowledge base from which the SEBoK is drawn.

While work on new content continues we also have our ongoing activity of lower level review and engagement with the community. From this we have identified a number of smaller updates to references, terminology and organization of knowledge. These changes have been implemented in v 1.3.1. For full details of all articles affected by this update go to Acknowledgements and Release History.

Future Direction for SEBoK

In the foreword to SEBoK v. 1.3 is spoke of "a core group of dedicated and knowledgeable contributing authors and reviewers". It has been my privilege over the last 12 months to continue working with and grow this community and to expand our relationships with key organizations and groups both within systems engineering and outside of it.

The role of the Editorial Board is to work with this community of interest on an ongoing review of the current SEBoK content and structure and to develop plans for its maintenance and evolution. Our overall goals in evolving the SEBoK remain broadly the same as those outlined in the previous SEBoK update. I have restated and slighty modified those goals below:

• Improve the ways in which Part 1 (SEBoK Introduction) provides a starting point for different SEBoK users to find and navigate knowledge relevant to them. This will include consideration of some of the SEBoK Use Cases which where not expanded in previous releases.
• Review of Part 2 (Systems) with help from the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) to better understand the relationships between systems science and systems thinking as applied to engineered systems. We hope this will lead to an improved integration of systems principles, concepts, patterns and models into the other systems engineering focused knowledge areas across the SEBoK.
• Continue the alignment and co-evolution of Part 3 (Systems Engineering and Management) with other systems engineering life cycle documentation, in particular the planned new release of ISO/IEC/IEEE. Systems and Software Engineering -- System Life Cycle Processes and the INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook v. 4.0.
• Assess our coverage of knowledge on systems engineering application and practices. This may include expansion of the Service and Enterprise knowledge areas in Part 4 (Applications of Systems Engineering). It will also consider how systems engineering practices such as architecting, life cycle management and model based systems engineering are addressed across the SEBoK.
• Identify the other groups, both within the systems engineering community and beyond, with interest in the topics of Part 5 (Enabling Systems Engineering) and Part 6 Related Disciplines and form stronger relationships with them.

We continue to work towards ensuring that our coverage of existing systems engineering knowledge is complete and to push the boundaries of that knowledge into new approaches and domains. I also want to strengthen further our links to all members of the systems engineering community through things like the SEBoK Sandbox. If you are interested in any of the activity discussed above or if you have other topics which we should be considering please contact me or the appropriate member of the Editorial Board directly or use one of the available feedback mechanisms.

We have made a good start on gathering review comments and content suggestions from as wide a variety of individuals as possible to make the SEBoK a truly community-led product. Thank you to all those who have already joined this effort and I continue to look forward to working with many of you on future SEBoK releases.

Thank you,