Editor's Corner

A very warm welcome to all SEBoK users. The BKCASE Editor in Chief (EIC) has 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 supporting me.

I am delighted to be able to talk to you about SEBoK v. 1.6, which continues our commitment to regular review of the information referenced in our "Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge".

The BKCASE Editorial Board has made significant efforts to become more involved in activities within our sponsoring organizations on key topics such as model based systems engineering (MBSE), agile life cycles, systems of systems, systems engineering leadership, and Software Engineering. SEBoK v1.4 also included changes which respond to the publication of ISO/IEC/IEEE. 15288:2015 Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes and the INCOSE SE Handbook v4.0, 2015, these changes continue to influence SEBoK evolution.

SEBoK v.1.6 contains a number of structural changes to facilitate the ongoing evolution of the SEBoK, as well as changes to reflect changes in referenced sources and other minor corrections.

SEBoK v. 1.6

SEBoK v1.6 includes a major reorganization of Part 1, SEBoK Introduction. Part 1 has been divided into three knowledge areas (KA):

• Introduction to the SEBoK
• Introduction to Systems Engineering
• Introduction to SE Transformation

The first two KA contain modified versions of existing articles. The third is a new KA to reflect the changing nature of SE. While a discipline like SE is constantly changing, INCOSE and others have recognized that it is currently going through a significant transformation in a number of ways. We wish to include some aspects of that transformation in the SEBoK. The transformation KA defines the scope of the transformation and contains articles which give details about specific aspects of transformational knowledge. The intention is to use this KA to introduce new knowledge and then to transition it into the main body of the SEBoK. The transformation KA for v1.6 covers two key aspects of the transformation of SE:

• Transition to a Model Based Discipline
• Expansion of the cross domain nature of SE

For the first we have a new article giving an overview of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). For the second two new articles give an overview of healthcare SE. This is the first inclusion of domain specific practices in the SEBoK.

We have also made a number of small changes in response to comments made on the SEBoK by people in the SE community. Many thanks for everyone who has taken the time to leave comments and suggestion in the SEBoK.

Future Direction for SEBoK

It has been my continuing privilege over the last 12 months to continue working with the group of dedicated and knowledgeable contributing authors and reviewers who make up the BKCASE community; and to help grow this community 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 previous SEBoK updates. I have restated and slightly 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 were not expanded in previous releases, and possible new case studies covering application domains such as Defense, Health Care or Transport.
• Review Part 2 (Foundations of Systems Engineering) 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.
• Look for broader views on the key practices of Part 3 (Systems Engineering and Management) to feed back into the ongoing co evolution of key standards. In particular make more direct reference to the continuing evolution of Agile life cycle thinking and bring in more knowledge sources from the model based SE (MBSE) community.
• Expand our coverage of knowledge on systems engineering application and practices. In particular look for ways to bring in more knowledge on how systems engineering practices such as architecting, life cycle tailoring and model based systems engineering are applied in other domains.
• 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. For example we are working with the IEEE Computer Society about the relationship between SE and Software Engineering.

In 2016 we will slightly modify the SEBoK release dates, moving from June and Dec to March and Sept. This will allow us to better align the publishing schedule with our working sessions at INCOSE and IEEE-CS international events. 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,