Foundations of Systems Engineering

Part 2 of the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge deals with knowledge associated with Systems. The aim of the part is to provide a foundation for the subsequent guides to Systems Engineering practice in Part 2 and 3. The intention of Part 2 is not to provide a complete guide to allof the knowledge available about systems or the use of systems ideas in real world applications; but to provide a guide to those areas of systems knowledge particularly relevant to Systems Engineering. This is done in 3 ways across the 6 Knowledge Areas which make up Part 2:

• The first Knowledge Area provides an overview of the different ways in which the idea of a system have been written about by a variety of authors. In particular the idea of a System Context is introduced to allow consideration of different real world situations and artifacts as systems.
• The next three Knowledge Areas consider particular aspects of this systems knowledge which are of interest to Systems Engineers . They consider some of the domain independent System Concepts we can use to reason about systems; the different Types of System context to which these concepts might apply and the approaches taken to Represent System with Models.
• The final two Knowledge Areas provide the linkage between this system knowledge and the practices of Systems Engineering. The first describes a Systems Approach which can be used to to understand, integrate or intervene in a system context. The second discusses some of the problems which might arise when we try to take a Systems Approach in the application of Systems Engineering practices in the real world.

Thus, the knowledge identified and discussed in Part 2 will provide better understanding to anyone using the other parts of the SEBoK of the underlying systems ideas upon which it is based. It will also define the key principles of a Systems Approach which wil be refered to directly in explaining the practices of Systems Engineering.

Knowledge Areas in Part 2

• Systems Overview
• System Concepts
• Types of Systems
• Representing Systems with Models
• Systems Approach
• Systems Challenges

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