Date: 6 November 2013	Issue: 13
In This Issue

Connecting Systems and Requirements Engineers with New Features in CORE 9

IBM^® Rational^® DOORS^® is a well-known requirements software tool used by many organizations to manage the requirement management process. A new capability released with CORE^® 9 is a connector to DOORS. Using this feature, systems engineers can start with system requirements in either CORE or DOORS and synchronize system design and development progress made in either toolset. Whether you want to start in CORE or DOORS, there are times when it is appropriate and necessary to interchange data between the two. The interface features resident in CORE provide traceability so that changes in one tool are able to be transported and tracked into the other tool.

The new capabilities in the connector between CORE and DOORS enable users to maintain requirements management in DOORS and complete the system design and development work in CORE - keeping the traceability between the two programs.  Requirement engineers are able to have insight where they need it and systems engineers have the traceability between the requirements and all the system models, views, and simulations necessary to build a complete, consistent, and convergent system.

Many organizations employ requirements engineers who use DOORS to develop, manipulate, and extract system requirement information in document format for validation and verification with stakeholders. Requirement engineers are very comfortable with methods for manipulation and output of requirement information from DOORS. Systems engineers extend the requirement information and leverage the flexibility and power of CORE to build system models, using model-based systems engineering (MBSE) principles with SysML views, to connect system behavior and architecture.  The connector facilitates the transfer and coordination of system information as each group matures the system design. To take advantage of the power of the DOORS Connector and to learn more about how to maximize the efficiency of using both tools simultaneously, look for the CORE 9 User Guide scheduled for release in early December.

Noteworthy INCOSE Events You Don't Want to Miss

Voting for this year’s INCOSE elections, whose results will be revealed at the International Workshop in January, opens during the first week of November and will run for two weeks. We encourage everyone to vote early to ensure your ballot is received by the processing center.

All newly-elected board members, including Vitech President David Long who will be entering into the role of INCOSE president, will be officially inaugurated during the opening plenary of the 2014 International Workshop on Saturday morning.

Visit the INCOSE website, provided below, to see the election positions and candidates.

The 2014 International Workshop will be held January 25 – 28 in Torrance, California. In conjunction with the International Workshop, the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Workshop will be held on Saturday and Sunday (25-26). Attendees will be able to learn about the latest MBSE activities and applications and to network with others from the MBSE and systems engineering communities. For more details on this combined event, please view the agenda below.

Useful Links:

INCOSE elections website

2014 International Workshop website 

MBSE Workshop website

The Formal Axiology of Model-Based Systems Engineering

Zane Scott, Vice President for Professional Services at Vitech, recently presented his paper, “The Formal Axiology of Model-Based Systems Engineering” at the Annual Conference of the Robert S. Hartman Institute in Dallas, Texas. The group is dedicated to the study and furtherance of the discipline of Formal Axiology, which is the philosophical study of value, founded on the principle that value is established through how well something fulfills its concept. This concept is analogous to the systems engineering concepts of verification and validation, where a system design is judged against its requirements.

In his paper, Scott seeks to explain the basic concepts of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) in a way that highlights the relationship of the verification process in systems engineering to the value process of formal axiology. It is hoped that the similarities between the two disciplines will prove useful as a bridge, whereby some valuable cross-pollination of ideas and praxis may emerge and advance both disciplines.

Scott’s presentation received exceptional reviews and much interest from the audience and will be featured as an article in the next issue of The Journal of Formal Axiology, which is published annually by the Institute.

Tell Us When You Want To Attend Webinars!

In an effort to accommodate our global customer base, we want to do our best to find a presentation time that works for the majority of our customers. Please take this 4-question survey to let us know the best time for you to attend a live webinar.

 

Did you know that model-based systems engineering (MBSE) pre-dates the Systems Modeling Language (SysML)? Prior to SysML, MBSE powered systems design with consistency checking, document generation, and other benefits using notations such as functional flows, N2 diagrams, and IDEF-0 diagrams.

The ascent of SysML has provided a common notational language that facilitates communication of the system design between systems engineers, software engineers, and others.

In case you missed the live presentation of this wildly popular webinar delivered by Warren Smith, you have a chance to view it on-demand in the Webinar Archive. In this webinar, you’ll see a system specified entirely using SysML in CORE and the benefits of using an underlying model.

What Will You Learn?

• Learn how to model using SysML in CORE.

• Find out how to better communicate your SysML diagrams to customers and other stakeholders who are not familiar with the SysML notation.

• Discover how to find omissions in your SysML models and how to relate your SysML to other critical systems engineering facets such as risk assessment, testing, and program management.

• Become more familiar with virtual system prototypes and the ability to simulate your system activity diagrams.

Today's Tip: Schema Definition in CORE

The strength of the system database is its concrete language in which each term is clearly defined regardless of context. The CORE schema is fully documented with definitions for all classes of elements, element attributes, and relationships. For the new systems engineer, sometimes it’s helpful to have those definitions right at your fingertips. Turning on the Display Definitions feature in User Preferences will display the schema description in tip text when the mouse is hovered over an object.