ABSTRACT:   An overview of IBM Rational Harmony, Rational Harmony for Systems Engineering, and best practices for systems engineering embodied in Rational Harmony

Apr 15, 2010 (6pm-7:30pm) (12 April 2010)
TOPIC: UML for Product Lines

LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:   Marty Bakal, IBM World Wide Market Manager - Electronics Industry, and Software Product Manager: Rational Enterprise Modernization & Compilers

ABSTRACT:   This presentation will address organizations evolving their requirements and architecture when developing product lines. Systems Engineering practices have emerged to play an even greater role than before, primarily because software has grown more complex across every system in every industry. It is important for systems engineering to be cognizant of the impact of software complexity.

In order to get products delivered on time companies need to build into their process reuse of existing design assets. Building variation into the requirements and design architecture is key to reuse. Variations allow you to create one base asset and then show the product specific differences. Further, linking your domains together, i.e. requirements to architecture, based on complete product lines, enables complete and optimal reuse.

BIO: Marty Bakal has over 15 years of experience in the embedded industry, the last 10 years working as an IBM Rational® Rhapsody® application engineer, consultant, trainer, business development and marketer. Mary is an experienced UML/SysML trainer and now is a Market Manager managing various industries in the embedded systems and software modeling space. Marty has extensive experience with customers worldwide in the Aerospace & Defense, Medical, Automotive and Telecomm industries.

Marty contributes to industry conferences and journals on a regular basis. Examples include the Embedded World conference in Germany , the Software Product Lines conference and the IBM® Rational® Systems Conference. Thought leadership extends to various industry magazines, with articles that span a range of topics from an extremely technical embedded standpoint to features focused on high-level process, solutions and business concerns.

Mar 18, 2010 (6pm-7:30pm) (28 March 2010)
TOPIC: Round Table Discussion - "From Pacemakers to Spacecraft, Common Frameworks and Approaches to Defining the Architecture of Complex Systems"

LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:   Russell Kubycheck, Systems Engineer with Hamilton Sundstrand in Rockford, IL

ABSTRACT: This round table discussion will include a review of architecture terms and definitions across industries, an overview of system architecture considerations for complex safety critical applications, and examples of successful and unsuccessful architectures.

BIO: Russell Kubycheck is currently a System Engineering Contractor with Hamilton Sundstrand. Having over 18 years of engineering experience, he has applied system engineering principles to product development in the Telecomm, Healthcare Devices and Mil/Aero industries.

Russell earned his BSCE from the University of Illinois. He is a member of INCOSE and a Director-at-Large of the Chicagoland Chapter. Russ’ interests outside of work include family and ice hockey (the best sport in the world).

Feb 18, 2010 (6pm-7:30pm) (23 February 2010)
TOPIC: "Application of SE in Project Management: Modeling with Metrics"
LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:   Steve Lindo, Founder and CEO of SIM Solutions, Inc.

ABSTRACT: Project Management estimation has typically been an art form. PM's and development teams typically attempt a best-guess estimate for specification development, analysis, design, verification and validation, and launch activities. These estimates are often fraught with errors and omissions, leading to missed deadlines, undue stress on the development teams, disappointed investors, and failed careers.

Systems Engineering (SE) tools can be used to create data-driven models to accurately estimate the time, manpower, and expenses required to complete any project. Just as good requirements planning yields more predictable results, investing a little additional time in the planning phases will reap tremendous rewards in the execution phase. In fact, Project Management and Systems Engineering have natural synergies and should never be divorced. This discussion will provide some metrics and models which are proven to be more reliable than the best-guess approach. Feel free to share your own proven metrics and models.

BIO: Steve Lindo is founder and CEO of SIM Solutions, Inc. He held various positions for Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems, L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, and Baxter Healthcare's Renal Division, including Mechanical Design Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Verification & Validation Lead. Mr. Lindo currently helps clients develop world-class systems engineering processes, establish robust system architectures, create accurate analytical models, write verifiable requirements, and manage technical teams.

Steve holds a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He has consulted for companies ranging from small startups to Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Lindo firmly believes that Science, Innovation, and Management (SIM) are skills in which every company and engineer should strive to excel.


Jan 21, 2010 (6pm-7:30pm) (12 February 2010)
TOPIC: "Roles and Importance of Use Cases in Systems Engineering"
LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:   William Day, Consultant, Regulatory Compliance Associates

ABSTRACT: Bridging the gulf between the problem space of user needs and the solution space where engineers think and work has always been a significant challenge for most product development teams.  Use cases can span this gulf by creating a comprehensive view of all actors and the tasks they perform.  This presentation discusses the significant product development advantages that integrating these high level use cases into the familiar requirements management processes can bring to an organization.

BIO: Bill is currently working as a Consultant with Regulatory Compliance Associates remediating an IVD medical device design history file.  Prior to that, Bill was the Director of Systems Engineering at Baxter’s Renal Division for 3 years designing and building peritoneal dialysis medical devices.  Bill has also lead an IT application software development team at McKesson for 6 years and an engineering team at Siemens Medical Solutions for 13 years building angiography x-ray imaging systems.  Bill is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a BS in Computer Engineering.


Dec 21, 2009 (6pm-7:30pm) (1 December 2009)
TOPIC: Round Table Discussion - "Practical Applications of Risk Assessments"
LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:   Pat Baird, Lead Designer, Baxter Healthcare

ABSTRACT: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff using Risk Management -- A significant revamp of the risk management process has helped my team prioritize and focus on the truly important activities in their daily work.

BIO: Pat previously held the position of Engineering Manager at a small company in the packaging industry. He is currently a Lead System Designer at Baxter Healthcare. Pat worked with a larger team to redefine the Risk Management process for medical devices and is applying the redefined process to both design and sustaining engineering.


Nov 19, 2009 (6pm-7:30pm) (1 December 2009)
TOPIC: Practical Application of Systems Engineering in Commercial Industries: A Biomedical Perspective
LOCATION: Conference Room, 2nd Floor, IBM Building, 10 N. Martingale Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60173
PRESENTER:  Mike Celentano, R&D Systems Engineering Manager at Roche Diagnostics, and INCOSE Biomedical Working Group Chair;

ABSTRACT: The Systems Engineering discipline is relatively mature in the Defense & Aerospace domains. Systems Engineering processes, methods and deliverables are institutionalized in most of those related industries. However, many industries that support the Commercial product domain have little or no knowledge of Systems Engineering. Systems Engineers working in those domains typically meet resistance to practicing Systems Engineering due to lack of organizational understanding and/or support. Many Systems Engineers in the Commercial Biomedical industry have been finding ways to reduce the resistance to the Systems Engineering discipline in their organizations.

This presentation summarizes the approaches that have proven successful for several Systems Engineers in the Commercial Biomedical industry.

BIO: Mike Celentano is a member of the Crossroads of America Chapter of INCOSE out of Indianapolis, Indiana. He is currently the Biomedical Working Group Chairperson as well as a co-founder of that group. Mike is striving to make Systems Engineering practices more common place in the Biomedical Industry.

Mike has been working in the Medical Diagnostics field since 1987. He has been a Systems Engineer since 1995. He has dedicated his career to developing multi-disciplined instrumentation used to diagnose & monitor disease to ultimately help improve the quality of healthcare globally. He has worked for Technicon, Miles, Bayer, Seradyn, UMM and Roche. He is currently the R&D Manager of System Engineering for Roche Diagnostics Diabetes Care in Indianapolis.


Oct 15, 2009 (6pm-7:30pm) (15 October 2009)
TOPIC:  Modeling -- The Value Proposition
PRESENTER: Jim Streed, Principal Staff Engineer for Motorola's ASTRO mission critical two-way radio System Design team

ABSTRACT: Does modeling have a measurable return on investment? What is the value proposition of any modeling activity? Given a specific project situation, how does one decide if modeling is worthwhile? This presentation discusses the motivations for modeling, the factors that influence modeling decisions, the continuum of modeling options, and the balance of forces that contribute to a modeling decision. The presentation also discusses practical matters such as the skills needed to be an effective modeler, a modeling process, how modeling intersects with project deliverables, and what modeling questions should be asked at program reviews.

BIO: Jim Streed is a Principal Staff Engineer for Motorola's ASTRO mission critical two-way radio System Design team. He has spent 22 years at Motorola in hardware development, DSP software development, and system design. During his tenure, Jim has joined the ranks of resident experts in simulcast RF subsystems, system availability, and audio quality. In recent years, Jim has been patiently working to apply the wisdom of the industry and the discipline of systems engineering to internal process improvements. One of his current assignments is to find an effective way to represent an evolving commercial architecture. In his spare time, Jim ponders deep subjects such as complexity and emergence.

Jim earned his BSEE from the University of Illinois, and his MSEE from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a member of INCOSE and a certified Design for Six Sigma Black Belt. Jim's interests outside of Motorola include family, church, music, architecture, woodworking, and sports of all kinds.