Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK)

On behalf of the BKCASE Editorial Board, the Governing Board, and our authors and sponsors, welcome to SEBoK version 2.5. Released 15 October 2021

Welcome to SEBoK v. 2.5

SEBoK Original Work. Video was created by Rob Cloutier (2019 SEBoK Editor in Chief).

The SEBoK provides a guide to the key knowledge sources and references of systems engineering organized and explained to assist a wide variety of individuals. It is a living product, accepting community input continuously, with regular refreshes and updates. The SEBoK is a not compendium but instead references existing literature and much of the content has restricted intellectual property rights. This copyright information is placed on each page, and must be respected. Materials marked as "SEBoK Original" may be freely used with proper citation. Materials marked as "used with permission" may not be used unless the user seeks independent permission from the copyright owner. The SEBoK copyright is held on behalf of the BKCASE Board of Governors by The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the full life cycle of successful product, service and enterprise systems. It includes problem discovery and formulation, solution definition and realization, and operational use, sustainment, and disposal. It can be applied to single problem situations or to the management of multiple interventions in commercial or public enterprises. Those new to systems engineering can find introductory articles which provide an overview of systems engineering, place it in historical context, and discuss its economic value in Part 1 of this body of knowledge.

What's New?

A few things to look forward to in the latest update:

• Updated main page - we have taken your feedback to streamline the SEBoK landing page to get you into the content you're interested in more quickly.
• New Editor's Corner - the former Letter from the Editor is now the Editor's Corner, refocused on the current and emerging trends in systems engineering. Check it out for our Editor in Chief's current thoughts on the metaverse and the impact on systems.
• New sponsors and sponsorship packages - you will notice a number of new sponsors and updates to the sponsorship packages available. Please join us in thanking our sponsors for their support of the SEBoK!
• New navigation - the left-hand menu has gone through a major overhaul to make it easier for you find the information you need and retire information that is no longer as relevant, as well as to load more quickly.
• COMMENTS ADDRESSED
• Behind the scenes, we've updated to the latest version of MediaWiki, tightened up our IT infrastructure, and made some adjustments to improve performance.

SEBoK Organization

Figure 1 Scope of SEBoK Parts and related knowledge (SEBoK Original). See Structure of the SEBoK for details.

Systems engineering has its roots in the fundamentals, principles, and models of foundational systems sciences, and associated management and engineering sciences. It is applied through the application of systems engineering processes within a managed life cycle working with a number of other management, engineering, and specialist disciplines. While traditionally applied to product development, systems engineering can also be applied to service and enterprise systems. As systems engineering is a collaborative approach, working with other engineering and management disciplines and specialisms, it relies on enabling competencies and structures at individual, team, and organizational levels.

Starting from this basic view of the scope of knowledge relevant to SE, the SEBoK is organized into 8 parts as shown in Figure 1. Click on Figure 1 to navigate to any part of the SEBoK.

The SEBoK includes a Glossary of Terms and a list of Primary References, to reflect the scope of systems engineering knowledge and its links into other bodies of knowledge.

SEBoK is a guide to the broad scope of SE-related knowledge. The core of this is tested and proven knowledge that has been developed through practice, documented, reviewed, and discussed by the SE community. In addition, the SEBoK also covers some of the emerging aspects of SE practice, such as Systems of Systems, Agile Life Cycle approaches and Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

SEBoK Updates and Governance

The SEBoK is overseen by the Governing Board appointed by the stewards, who oversee the SEBoK Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board. The stewards contribute resources to manage the SEBoK wiki, support new releases, and encourage SEBoK adoption. Volunteer authors from the worldwide SE community continue to propose and create new content. Other volunteers review that new content. The stewards are INCOSE, the IEEE Systems Council, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

BKCASE Stewards

Contact us at sebok@incose.org.

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Go to Part 1 > SEBoK v. 2.5, released 15 October 2021