Editor's Corner

Version 1.1

This version, released 30 April 2013, is a minor release which updates many topic articles and glossary articles.

Changes made include:

• Fourteen topic articles total in Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6 were updated, often to expand or improve the explanation of the topic, in other cases to add new references.
• Sixteen glossary terms were updated and two new glossary terms were added.
• The Acknowledgements page was updated to reflect a significantly revised governance structure for the SEBoK which added many new contributors in varying roles.
• The Main Page, this page, and others have been modified to reflect the new version.
• The SEBoK Evolution page was updated extensively to reflect the new governance structure, plans for SEBoK 1.2, and the expected release of a separate SEBoK sandbox wiki, which will allow anyone in the community to make changes to existing articles or to submit new articles.

There were no changes to improve wiki navigation and operation. Comments from version 1.0.1 that were adjudicated were deleted from DISQUS. Comments still to be adjudicated remain in the wiki.

Version 1.0.1 (released 30 November 2012)

This version was a micro update to correct a few errors. Changes made include:

• Several spelling errors have been corrected, and some fonts were changed.
• Corrections were made to the Acknowledgements.
• The Main Page, this page, and others have been modified to reflect the new version.
• The SEBoK Evolution page has been updated.

There were no edits to individual articles to improve clarity or content, to add references to new publications since version 1.0 was released, to improve wiki navigation and operation, or to make other more substantial changes. Minor releases planned for 2013 are expected to do just that. Comments from version 1.0 were collected and archived for the update version 1.1, expected in March 2013.

Version 1.0 (released 14 September 2012)

The Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) sprang out of a recognition in the summer of 2009 that the systems engineering (SE) discipline could benefit greatly by having a living authoritative guide to what is included in the discipline, how the discipline should be structured to facilitate understanding, and what are its most important readings. The effort to create the SEBoK and a companion effort to create the Graduate Reference Curriculum on Systems Engineering (GRCSE) coalesced into the BKCASE Project (http://www.bkcase.org), which began in September 2009.

The scale and complexity of BKCASE emerged over the first few months. Systems engineering is large and relatively immature when compared to more classic engineering disciplines such as electrical and mechanical engineering. We are extremely pleased with how the community rose to the challenge. New authors continually stepped up when holes in the writing team were identified and we routinely assembled 25 to 30 authors every three months in a multi-day workshop to iron out issues and make key decisions.

One of the most critical decisions occurred in January 2011 when the team confirmed a switch to a wiki-based presentation for the body of knowledge. This added a lot to the complexity of the effort, but offered great advantage in modularity for update, access to interim material by the authors, easy review and suggestions for improvements, and flexible navigation. In hindsight, the impact of choosing a wiki was much greater than we understood. Now that version 1.0 is complete, however, we are very happy we went down that path. We believe this format to present the body of knowledge will serve the SE community much better than if we had produced a traditional PDF or Word document.

To help ensure both the quality of the SEBoK and its acceptance by the community, it was vital that the SEBoK be created with an open collaborative process. Specifically, each version had public review and each review comment was adjudicated. The adjudication results can be found at SEBoK Review and Adjudication.

Authors, reviewers, participants, partners, and sponsors are identified in the Acknowledgements article, and their contributions are noted with deep gratitude.

The earliest value of the SEBoK has simply been the greater sense of community that has developed among the authors, which include many fellows of professional societies and other leaders in the field. For example, the relationship between Systems Science and Systems Engineering is now more clearly understood than in the past. This relationship is captured in Parts 2 and 3 of the SEBoK.

The greater value of the SEBoK, of course, will come with the anticipated use by the community now that version 1.0 has been released. If we are successful, the SEBoK will be used by thousands of systems engineers around the world as they undertake such activities as creating systems architectures, developing career paths for systems engineers, and deciding new curricula for systems engineering university programs.

The SEBoK is intended to evolve and morph with use and with changes in the field. The wiki structure is particularly well suited for that purpose. Users are asked to comment about what they like and dislike, what is missing and what should be removed. New articles will be added and existing articles updated regularly. We welcome your contributions to the SEBoK. Please post your suggestions using the DISQUS feature on each article or send us an email at bkcase@stevens.edu.

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SEBoK v. 1.9.1 released 30 September 2018

SEBoK Discussion

Please provide your comments and feedback on the SEBoK below. You will need to log in to DISQUS using an existing account (e.g. Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or create a DISQUS account. Simply type your comment in the text field below and DISQUS will guide you through the login or registration steps. Feedback will be archived and used for future updates to the SEBoK. If you provided a comment that is no longer listed, that comment has been adjudicated. You can view adjudication for comments submitted prior to SEBoK v. 1.0 at SEBoK Review and Adjudication. Later comments are addressed and changes are summarized in the Letter from the Editor and Acknowledgements and Release History.

If you would like to provide edits on this article, recommend new content, or make comments on the SEBoK as a whole, please see the SEBoK Sandbox.

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