INCOSE eNote: News and Notes from the INCOSE Network
Volume 2  Issue 8, 4 December 2005

2005 Election Results Announced. INCOSE is pleased to announce the results of the recent elections and to congratulate the newly elected officers and Member Board representatives.

The exceptional slate of candidates reflects the growth of INCOSE and the tremendous dedication of our members. Sincere thanks to those members who ran for office -- particularly Stephen Cook, Harry Crisp, Paul Davies, and William Mackey -- who were willing to make such a significant commitment to serve and lead our organization. We appreciate the effort of all candidates in standing for election and truly look forward to their continued service to INCOSE.

Thank you to all INCOSE members who took the time to evaluate the choices and vote in the election – we appreciate your interest and participation!

Help Advance SE through Your Charitable Contribution to the INCOSE Foundation. The INCOSE Foundation – a charitable organization with the stated goal of advancing the development and image of systems engineering through funded scholarships, research, and international forums – recently received its 501(c) (3) exempt status from the IRS. Contributions are already flowing in as U.S. donors can now contribute to the Foundation and claim a charitable deduction on their income tax. The Foundation is working on how non-U.S. donors can also contribute in a tax-effective way.

The Foundation actively solicits contributions from individuals, corporations, and other foundations. Informal surveys indicate that more than 80% of members will contribute to the Foundation on a regular basis. Initial fundraising is focusing on INCOSE members, chapters, and other internal INCOSE groups, but contributions from outside the “INCOSE family” will certainly be accepted.

Invest in the future of systems engineering and all the benefits it delivers. Include the INCOSE Foundation in your charitable plans this holiday season. For more information including proposed initiatives, see the Foundation section on the INCOSE website.

Make Your Plans for the 2006 International Workshop. INCOSE's International Workshop, 28 January through 1 February, is a yearly event during which systems engineers can contribute to the state of the practice. Attendees spend four days immersed in a vibrant community of systems engineers who are there to make a difference. The IW is open to all INCOSE members with systems engineers at all levels and backgrounds encouraged to engage in working sessions and contribute their knowledge and experience to take our discipline forward. Planned sessions will be published on the workshop website as these become available, and attendees are encouraged to contact relevant session leaders before the event for further information. For those members already active in working groups, the change to INCOSE's financial year in 2005 has given us a flying start to the workshop, with budgets and plans for 2006 already fully approved.

We look forward to seeing you in January at Scottsdale. Deadlines are fast approaching with meeting space requests due 9 December and early registration ending 16 December. And be sure to make your hotel reservations soon to take advantage of the workshop rate.

Get Involved – Become a Contributing Member of the INCOSE Technical Infrastructure. The primary objective of INCOSE's Technical Infrastructure is to advance world class systems engineering through technical initiatives that relate to all facets of systems engineering, including basic and applied research, and the application and practice of systems engineering to commercial, government, and academic endeavors. The customers for our products and services are the general INCOSE membership, the Corporate Advisory Board, and the Board of Directors. The Technical Infrastructure undertakes work as directed by its customers and/or the general interest of its participants.

INCOSE organizes its technical activities with the assistance of the Technical Matrix. There are Application Sectors listed across one axis and Systems Engineering enablers along the other. The enablers are WHAT we practice and the Sectors are WHERE we practice it. So every project, activity, or interest, or even a member’s experience, can be expressed asintersections on the matrix.

Help advance our discipline and profession. Map your interests to the INCOSE Technical Matrix and contact the enabler or sector assistant director to find out how you can make a difference.

SE Vision 2020 v1.5 Now Available. The Systems Engineering Vision 2020 version 1.5 is INCOSE's latest forecast of the likely state of systems engineering practice in the 2010 and 2020 time frames. This version provides a new format, abstracting the information provided in the previous version in terms of overarching themes. Consequently, it is more concise. The more detailed descriptive information of the previous version will be provided in a future volume of annexes to the Systems Engineering Vision 2020 document. Members can download version 1.5 from the Members Area of the INCOSE website.

We look forward to your feedback so that we can continue to refine this vision. Please provide all comments and questions to Harry Crisp.

INCOSE Major Projects Continue to Progress. Through the dedicate effort of the major project teams, INCOSE is making steady progress on our major initiatives. In addition to the release of SE Vision 2020 v1.5:

• A steady stream of certification applications have been flowing in since the program began accepting applications in March. Many applicants have been approved to take the exam, which should be available shortly through Prometrics. We encourage those who have been considering applying for certification to do so now. Our procedures are working well, and the review team is prepared for a significant volume of applications.
• Version 3 of the Systems Engineering Handbook is progressing well. There are 220 pages of draft material.The editorial team is confident that this can be edited down to the 150-page target. A set of key stakeholders will conduct review the draft in December, with a second editing pass planned before the International Workshop. You can look for publication in mid-2006.
• The INCOSE Product Asset Library (IPAL) effort continues to establish its procedures. We have started a collection of products, which will go through a review before being made available to INCOSE members through the website. The IPAL is INCOSE's follow-on to the initial Guide to the SE Body of Knowledge completed earlier this year and now available at g2sebok.incose.org.

Doctoral SEANET Workshop Scheduled for April 2006. The INCOSE Systems Engineering and Architecting Doctoral Student Network (SEANET) invites current and soon-to-begin doctoral students to participate in a one-day workshop April 6th at the University of Southern California. The purpose of SEANET is to advance systems engineering research by providing a collegial support network, research resources, and industry contacts that will enable the completion of doctoral dissertations related to systems engineering. The workshop will feature speakers, panel sessions, and working sessions targeted for the various phases of the student’s doctoral work. This event will precede the Conference on Systems Engineering Research.

SEANET is also seeking sponsors for this event who are interested in fostering doctoral research and/or have an interest in the employment of doctoral graduates. Sponsorship of $500 per organization will be used for the purpose of providing catering for the SEANET networking event. Additional information and details on the benefits of sponsoring SEANET can be found on the INCOSE website.

See the workshop call for participation for more details. Questions on SEANET may be forwarded to Donna Rhodes.

Participate in RE'06. Co-sponsored by INCOSE, the IEEE International Requirements Engineering conference is the premier requirements engineering conference, providing a forum for researchers, practitioners, educators, and students to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences, and concerns in the field of requirements engineering. RE'06, the 14th IEEE International Requirements Engineering, will be held 11-15 September 2006 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. INCOSE members are invited to submit papers in all fields of requirements engineering as well as proposals for tutorials, workshops, panels, doctoral symposium contributions, posters, and research demonstrations. For more information, visit the RE'06 website.

New Specialty Engineering Working Group to Meet at 2006 International Workshop. The Specialty Engineering Working Group is targeted at systems specialty engineering practitioners and/or managers with experience in the Application Sectors reflected in the INCOSE Technical Matrix. In this first working group session, participants will develop the vision and initial plans for specialty engineering operations within INCOSE, and identify and prioritize significant issues and development needs within the sectors. Participation is open to all, especially those wishing to collaborate on technical initiatives to advance systems specialty engineering. For more information, please contact Ray Hettwer, Assistant Director, Specialty Engineering.

Preparing Underway for 2005 Chapter Awards Packets. As 2005 comes to a close, many chapters are putting the final touches on their chapter award packets. The chapter awards program provides excellent metrics for chapter leaders to use as they guide their chapters throughout the year as well as an opportunity to recognize the many activities and contributions of our chapters.We encourage all chapters to submit their packets by the 13 January 2006 deadline. Small packets (below 5 MB) can be submitted via email to Mike Eagan with cc to Bruce Shelton. Please contact Michael Eagan for submission instructions if your packet exceeds 5 MB. All submissions will be answered with a confirmation email upon receipt. If you submit a packet but do not receive a response, please call Bruce Shelton (+1 703.416.3576 EST) so that we ensure all submissions are received and reviewed.

The Member Board is seeking volunteers to help with a timely review of all chapter award packets. As we have done in the past, our objective is to complete the packet review prior to the International Workshop and then extract ideas, templates, and best practices to share at the IW. This is a great opportunity for current and future chapter officers. By reviewing and discussing the packets, you will gain valuable insight into how other chapters operate, identify topics for programs and tutorials, see new ideas for activities, and learn ways to simplify chapter operations. Volunteers will spend approximately four hours prior to the IW with those available then meeting on Saturday at the IW. Those interested should contact Bruce Shelton for more information.