Current SERC Research Projects
Project | Principal Investigator |
Assessing Systems Engineering Effectiveness in Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) | Barry Boehm |
Richard Turner | |
Art Pyster | |
Stas Tarchalski | |
Rob Cloutier | |
John Farr | |
Barry Boehm | |
Barry Boehm | |
Jennifer Bayuk | |
Richard Turner | |
Jon Wade |
Assessing Systems Engineering Effectiveness in Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs)
Evaluation of Systems Engineering Methods, Processes and Tools (MPT) on Department of Defense and Intelligence Community Programs
Principal Investigators |
| Project Description |
Richard Turner, Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Interviews with Sponsor development and acquisition personnel produced a description of the environment and its issues. The interviews established four key challenges:
Literature and industry surveys were used to gather data on current systems engineering practice in similar environments. Consolidation and analysis of the data produced a set of common themes across the interview responses, a list of candidate MPTs that were recommended by organizations with environments similar to the Sponsor’s, and a framework for showing the relationships among challenges, themes and MPTs. Based on these products and their internal expertise, the team recommends three MPTs as most likely to increase effectiveness in the Sponsor’s environment:
Gaps were identified through the industry survey responses and by comparing useful, viable MPTs to the four challenge areas. Primary gaps identified through the survey were decision management and stakeholder requirements definition. The challenge area where the MPT gap was largest was Sustainment. Further research was recommended in three areas:
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Project Objectives |
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1) Identify methods, practices and tools (MPTs) considered viable in the Sponsor’s environment 2) Identify gaps where no useful or viable MPTs could be identified. |
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Sponsored Upcoming Events |
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(none) |
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Project Publications |
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fileadmin/sercuarc/SERC_Publications/SERC_2009_MPT_TR_002.pdf
Graduate SE BoK and Reference Curriculum
Principal Investigators |
| Project Description |
Art Pyster, Stevens Institute of Technology and David Olwell, Naval Postgraduate School |
| In September 2009, Stevens Institute of Technology, together with the Naval Postgraduate School, began the Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE) project. BKCASE is a three-year effort to create a robust Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SE BoK) and a Graduate Reference Curriculum in System Engineering (GRCSE). The project is endorsed by the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Board of Directors, with significant funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and support from the IEEE Systems Council.
The BKCASE team includes invited authors and volunteer reviewers from around the world representing different locales, business segments, professional societies, and areas of expertise. Once fully staffed, the team will have thirty to forty authors and several hundred reviewers.
Two interim drafts and the final products will be developed in one-year intervals starting in the Summer (SE BoK) and Fall (GRCSE) of 2010, with version 1.0 products due out in 2012. Both INCOSE and the IEEE Systems Council will be heavily involved from the beginning. Anyone interested in supporting BKCASE in any capacity should contact the project leader, Art Pyster. |
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Project Objectives |
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(1) To create a SE BoK that is globally recognized by the SE community as the authoritative BoK for the SE discipline; (2) To create a Graduate Reference Curriculum for SE (GRCSE) that is globally recognized by the SE community as the authoritative guidance for graduate programs in SE; (3) To facilitate the global alignment of related workforce development initiative with SE BoK and GRCSE; and (4) To transfer stewardship of SE BoK and GRCSE to INCOSE and other suitable professional societies after BKCASE releases version 1.0 of those products. |
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Sponsored Upcoming Events |
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Project Website |
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Reconfigurable Architecture for SE Knowledge
Under Construction.
Graphical CONOPS
Developing SE Technical Leadership
Principal Investigators |
| Project Description |
John Farr, Stevens Institute of Technology, Walter Bryzik, Wayne State University, Richard Arra, Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Many years of experience with multiple jobs over many programs are required to develop a senior technical leader. Long program life cycles, competition from industry for scarce human capital, acquisition reform, and the scale of projects within the defense community has lead to a dearth of senior technical leaders with sound systems engineering skills. There is a need to develop better and more senior technical leaders with not only sound SE skills but also the ability to understand system of systems issues from a holistic view. There is also a need to “speed up” their technical and leadership maturation process because of the nature of modern acquisition. Technical leaders must be systems thinkers, understand systems of systems issues, and think and act holistically in addition to traditional tenets of leadership and management.
The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) currently offers Level I, II, and III Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering in Systems Engineering (SPRDE-SE) certifications. This research will support and extend the certificate offered by the DAU for a Level IV type SPRDE-SE experience targeted towards senior systems and chief engineers.
Research under this task is being conducted to develop, synthesize and validate curriculum content, course materials, and structure for a program to deliver this Level IV experience to future DoD senior and executive SE and other technical leaders. The curriculum will incorporate the traditional tenets of leadership and management, systems thinking, understanding systems of systems issues, and thinking and acting holistically. The research will define skills/competencies and assessment methodologies needed to offer a Level IV certification program. Research findings and associated recommendations must extend beyond mapping courses to competencies and must include recommendations for immersion experiences (case studies, games, etc) all designed to collapse the learning curve needed to be a senior or executive SE leader.
Anyone interested in contributing to the development of technical leadership competencies in any capacity please contact the project leader, John Farr. |
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Project Objectives |
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1. Identify the systems engineering (SE) skills/competencies needed by senior and executive SE and other technical leaders, 2. Identify and describe the SE skills needed to understand systems thinking, understanding systems of systems issues, and thinking and acting holistically along with the traditional areas of technical leadership and management, 3. Research, validate, and document recommendations on a means to “speed up” the technical maturation process to align with the nature of modern acquisition, 4. Develop the content/syllabi for the experience/course(s) needed to close these gaps, and will develop and prototype the initial experience, and 5. Ensure that this course can be leveraged for a follow on experience/course(s) that when combined with this class will satisfy the competencies needed for Level IV certification. |
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Sponsored Upcoming Events |
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none |
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Evolutionary Life Cycle
Under Construction.
SIS Measurement
Under Construction.
Security SE
Under Construction.
MPT Extension
Principal Investigators |
| Project Description |
Forrest Shull, Fraunhofer Center, Richard Turner, Stevens Institute of Technology |
| The team identified current industry best practices for addressing the major challenges faced by the sponsor organization. A methodology for mining for best practices in use by organizations facing similar problems was used on data from an industry survey of over 100 practitioners from a wide range of organizations citing similar challenges. Additional work identified critical success factors for organizations working in this rapid/agile environment. We developed the “bridge diagram,” an example of which is shown, to help organizations to both strategize solutions and assess their current practices. The diagram links three kinds of information: a theme from the survey responses, the specific elements of that theme, and the methods, processes, and tools that have proven effective in achieving those elements. The team successfully piloted describing an MPT (Scrum) in a formal process modeling tool (Little JIL from UMass). By applying additional tools, single point of failure and finite state verification analyses were performed on the model. Finally, the team developed implementation guidance for three MPTs based on the bridge diagram. All the research led to the conclusion that there simply were not good tools for rapid/agile systems engineering in use. Tools that have been applied were drawn mainly from agile software development and had resulted in mixed success. However, the results will form a solid baseline for future work, including defining new SE approaches and validating their effectiveness before costly piloting. |
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Project Objectives |
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1) Gather additional information on methods, processes and tools (MPTs) associated with the environment identified in Phase 1 of this work and develop a taxonomy of MPTs identified; 2) Investigate the use of micro-process modeling techniques to support the definition and evaluation of MPTs; 3) Provide implementation guidance on the three MPTs recommended in Phase 1 |
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Sponsored Upcoming Events |
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(none) |
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Project Publications |
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- MPT Extension--Bridge Diagram.
SE Transformation
Principal Investigator |
| Project Description |
Jon Wade, Stevens Institute of Technology |
| This research program was initiated in August 2009 and is scheduled to complete the following by the end of March 2010:
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Project Objectives |
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(1) Provide a systematic understanding and assessment of current and emerging state of research and practices in the discipline of System Engineering (2) Identify the gaps that need to be addressed to enable rapid, effective fielding capability through compressed development & deployment time & increased operational effectiveness (3) Create an integrated, modular 3-Year roadmap for an SE methodology & toolset to address these gaps (4) Document the findings and Roadmap in an actionable final report to drive this transformation. |
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Sponsored Upcoming Events |
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(none) |
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Program Goal Transform the discipline of SE to meet the emerging challenges and increase its relevancy. |
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Development of Systems Engineering Maturity Models and Management Tools
Under Construction.
