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Measuring Systems Engineering Progress Using Digital Engineering

Abstract

Since publication of the Department of Defense (DoD) Digital Engineering Strategy in 2018, Digital Engineering (DE) and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) have become a central digital transformation strategy for the entire systems engineering (SE) community. At this point, we are still struggling to quantify the value of this DE transformation. Research conducted by the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) in collaboration with a government/industry Digital Engineering Measures Working Group created the first formal measurement framework for this transformation. Organizational leadership desires a quick and aggregated answer to the question “What is the return on investment for my DE transformation?” However, SE must first do the work to create the bottoms-up detailed measures and measurement strategy that will allow them to attain that answer over time. The new DE Measurement Framework, published through Practical Software and Systems Measurement ( psmsc.com ), provides a starting point for this journey.

Leads

Tom A. McDermott

Stevens Institute of Technology

Kaitlin Henderson

Virginia Tech

Eileen Van Aken

Virginia Tech

Alejandro Salado

University of Arizona

Joseph Bradley

Leading Change LLC

Publications

  1. Bahill, A.T. and Botta, R. (2008). Fundamental principles of good system design. Engineering Management Journal 20 (4): 9–17.

  2. DiMario, M., Cloutier, R., and Verma, D. (2008). Applying frameworks to manage SoS architecture. Engineering Management Journal 20 (4): 18–23.

  3. Draft International Standard ISO/IEC/IEEE DIS 24641:2023(En) (2023). Systems and Software engineering – Methods and tools for model-based systems and software engineering. https://www.iso.org/standard/79111.html (accessed May 2023).

  4. Friedenthal, S., Griego, R., and Sampson, M. (2007). INCOSE model based systems engineering (MBSE) initiative. 17th Annual International Symposium of INCOSE, Vol. 17, no 1 (San Diego), p. 2080. https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2007.tb02999.x (accessed February 2023).

  5. Henderson, K. and Salado, A. (2021). Value and benefits of model-based systems engineering (MBSE): evidence from the literature. Systems Engineering 24 (1): 51–66.

  6. Henderson, K., McDermott, T., Van Aken, E., and Salado, A. (2021). Measurement framework for model-based systems engineering (MBSE). In Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2021 International Annual Conference G. Natarajan, E.H. Ng, and P.F. Katina eds.; American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM), 979-8-9853334-0-4. https://www.proceedings.com/content/062/062095webtoc.pdf.

  7. Henderson, K., McDermott, T., Salado, A., and Van Aken, E. (2022). Towards developing metrics to evaluate digital engineering. Systems Engineering 26 (1): 3–31. https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sys.21640 (accessed February 2023).

  8. Honour, E.C. (2004). Understanding the value of systems engineering. Paper presented at the 14th Annual International Symposium of INCOSE, Toulouse, France (20–24 June). International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) 14 1, pp. 1207–1222. https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2004.tb00567.x (accessed May 2023).

  9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, INCOSE, and PSM (2010). Systems Engineering Leading Indicators Guide, v. 2.0. International Council on Systems Engineering.

  10. McDermott, T., Henderson, K., Salado, A., and Bradley, J. (2022). Digital engineering measures: research and guidance. Insight 25 (1): 12–18.

  11. McGarry, J., David Card, Cheryl Jones, Beth Layman, Elizabeth Clark, Joseph Dean, Fred Hall (2001). Practical Software Measurement: Objective Information for Decision Makers. Upper Saddle River, US-NJ: Addison-Wesley Professional. www.psmsc.com.

  12. Practical Software and Systems Measurement (2022). Digital Engineering Measurement Framework Version 1.1, PSM-2022-05-001. https://psmsc.com/DEMeasurement.asp (accessed February 2023).

  13. SERC Technical Report SERC-2020-SR-001 (2020). Benchmarking the Benefits and Current Maturity of Model-Based Systems Engineering across the Enterprise. Hoboken, US-NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology.

  14. SERC Technical Report SERC-2020-TR-002 (2020). Digital Engineering Metrics. Hoboken, US-NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology

  15. SERC Technical Report SERC-2021-TR-024 (2021). Application of Digital Engineering Measures. Systems Engineering Research Center.

SERC Logo

The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) was established in the Fall of 2008 as a government-designated University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). The SERC has produced 15 years of research, focused on an updated systems engineering toolkit (methods, tools, and practices) for the complex cyber-physical systems of today and tomorrow.


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