SEBoK Users and Uses

Based on the six purposes described in SEBoK 0.5 Introduction, the authors created a set of users and uses, as seen in the sections below. The authors have further refined a subset of these uses by creating written use cases, which provide guidance on how to walk through the SEBoK for certain purposes. The primary users for which there are more defined use cases include:

Primary Users

There are nine types of “primary” SEBoK users, as shown in Table 1, along with examples of their potential uses of the SEBoK. These primary users have the technical skills necessary to access and understand the SEBoK.

**Table 1. Primary SEBoK Users and Common Usages** - (Table Developed for BKCASE)
#	Users	Uses
1	Practicing SEs ranging from novice up through expert	Users are taking on a new SE role in a project and need the best references to help prepare Users want to expand their areas of SE expertise and specialization and need the best references to read Users want to understand the principles of SE and find the best references to elaborate on those principles Users want to understand what best SE practices to look for in a project they are reviewing, or for mentoring a new SE performer
2	Process engineers responsible for defining or implementing SE processes	Users are maintaining a library of SE process assets and want to understand which are the most relevant SE process standards Users are tailoring a process for a specific project and want to find examples in the literature of how others have tailored processes in the past or to find how a specific application domain should affect tailoring Users wish to measure the effectiveness of their organization’s SE processes and want to find examples in the literature of how others have done such measurement
3	Faculty members	Users are developing a new graduate program in SE and need to decide the core knowledge that all students in the program should master; users would simultaneously reference GRCSE, which makes extensive reference to the SEBoK Users are developing a new SE course and need to identify course objectives, topics, and reading assignments Users in other engineering disciplines want to incorporate SE concepts in their courses or curricula
4	GRCSE authors	Users are members of the GRCSE author team and need to decide what knowledge to expect from all SE graduate students
5	Certifiers	Users are defining a company’s in-house SE certification program and want to understand what others have done, how such programs are typically structured, and how to select the knowledge that each person seeking certification should master
6	Managers, other engineers, developers, testers, researchers	Users want to understand the scope of SE relative to their roles Users want to understand basic vocabulary, boundaries, and structure of SE and are looking for a few primary references Users want to understand the role of the systems engineer versus others on a project or in an organization Users want to effectively perform their roles on a SE integrated product team
7	Customers of systems engineers	Users receive artifacts from systems engineers and want to better understand what to ask for, how to request it, and how to judge the quality of what is received
8	SE managers	Users’ teams of systems engineers are proposing changes in the teams’ processes and tools, and the users want to read independent information to evaluate the proposal Users need to hire systems engineers and want to develop competency-based job descriptions
9	SE researchers	Users want to understand where the gaps are in SE knowledge to help guide their research agendas Users want to familiarize themselves with research topics and want to know the best articles to read

Secondary Users

Table 2 shows three types of secondary users – those who lack systems engineering (SE) technical skills and would likely rely on a primary user, such as a practicing systems engineer, to help them access and understand the SEBoK.

**Table 2. Secondary SEBoK Users and Common Usages** - (Table Developed for BKCASE)
#	Users	Uses
1	Human resource development professionals	Users will access SEBoK with the assistance of a direct user in order to support the hiring and professional development of systems engineers
2	Non-technical managers	Users will access SEBoK with the assistance of a direct user in order to find specific information of interest about SE topics central to the managers’ concerns; e.g., a contracting manager might want to better understand SE deliverables being called out in a contract
3	Attorneys, policy makers	Users will access SEBoK with the assistance of a direct user in order to understand such legal issues as the liability of a systems engineer for errors in judgment on a project, or to understand the limitations of SE in guaranteeing the success of a project vs. the actions of sponsors, managers, or developers