Date: 4 March 2014	Issue: 16
In This Issue

Vitech President David Long Inducted as INCOSE President

Vitech President David Long was officially installed as the President of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) for the 2014-2016 term. The ceremony took place at the 2014 INCOSE International Workshop (IW) and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Workshop in Torrance, California. Long, along with all other new officers, officially accepted his position at the start of the MBSE Workshop on Saturday, January 25, where he delivered his first address as INCOSE President.

In his address, Long said, "In this age of systems challenges, it is an exciting time to be a systems engineer. It is the job of INCOSE and its members to ensure technology is applied correctly, that value is delivered to customers and that we change the world to be a better place. I look forward to this opportunity to rise to the challenge.”

Congratulations to all new INCOSE officers, we look forward to a great term!

SEDC 2014 Coming in Early April

The Systems Engineering in D.C. (SEDC) 2014 Conference in Chantilly, Virginia is coming up in just a few weeks on April 3 – 5. Last year's conference boasted attendance that was much larger than anticipated, thanks to excellent keynotes, presentations, and tutorials. This year's event is being planned on an even larger scale, to accommodate its growing popularity within the systems engineering community.

The SEDC 2014 agenda is filled with speakers that come from a variety of industries and disciplines, meaning everyone will find something of interest. With an affordable price and a convenient location with respect to Washington, D.C., this will be a conference that no systems engineer will want to miss.

Ron Kratzke of Vitech Corporation will be delivering a presentation that explores the development of system test planning and management using MBSE principles, titled “MBSE for System Testing.” Join him on Thursday, April 3rd at 4:05 p.m. ET to hear how to apply the MBSE approach to developing system test plans and see a test planning framework that can be re-used and tailored for specific project requirements.

For full details on this conference please visit the SEDC Conference website.

Revisit the 5 Favorite Webinars of 2013

We would like to thank you for helping to make our 2013 webinar season a great success. It is your continued attendance and helpful feedback that has fueled our desire to make this year even better.

Now let’s take a look at some highlights from the 2013 webinar season. Here are the top five most popular webinars: 

1. Faster, Better, Cheaper – the Fallacy of MBSE?

2. Systems Engineering Lite

3. Modeling the Management of Systems Engineering Projects

4. Specifying Systems Using SysML in CORE

5. Exploring DoDAF and Other Architecture Frameworks in CORE

Many more excellent free webinars from 2013 and previous years can be found in our webinar archive.

From the Archive: World of Systems

Systems Engineering lives in a world where systems are studied and appreciated from a variety of viewpoints. There are biological, chemical, physical, and other systems existing in the universe. Humans have created systems which interact with the natural world and with each other. Numerous disciplines and sciences study and seek to design, redesign, and alter systems and their interactions.

This webinar attempts to shine a light on the map of those disciplines and their world. It points to the existing thought work, as well as to the areas open for investigation. It suggests the value propositions around the inquiry and advocates for further journeys into this realm. If you missed the live presentation of this  webinar you have a chance to view it on-demand in the Webinar Archive.

On Writing Well: The Systems Approach

All writing, especially expository writing, is about using a system design. In a pattern familiar to any systems engineer, the writing project begins with high level requirements that will decompose to lower level requirements, a functional map for meeting those requirements and a particular physical implementation.

The effective author begins by stating the purpose (sometimes called the thesis statement) and proceeds to create a logical argument that satisfies it. This argument is the logical architecture of the paper. The purpose statement norms the logical architecture and directs the design of the writing in the same way requirements norm and direct the design of a systems solution. Read more...

Today's Tip: Customize your Project Pane

To ease and accelerate your CORE navigation, there is a user preference which allows you to specify where you what to “start” when the project explorer opens. You can select a facility, the top level packages, or the notification center. To adjust this setting, click Tools > User Preferences, then set the Initial Explorer Selection.

Important Notice for CORE 6 Users

To ensure that we serve our customers with the highest quality support possible, it is necessary for us to cease supporting older versions of our software. The time has come for us to sunset support for CORE 6. If you are still using CORE 6, please take a moment to review the knowledge base article on our website for full details.