Technical Publications

Guide for Writing Requirements

This new second edition guide is specifically about how to express textual requirements in the context of systems engineering. The aim is to draw together advice from a variety of existing standards into a single, comprehensive set of characteristics and rules. It focuses on how to express requirements clearly and precisely as text once they have been discovered, and in a form convenient for further analysis. Writers of requirements will need to conform to the existing template required by their organization.

The Guide for Writing Requirements is supported by the Requirements Working Group. Share Your Expertise and join the Requirements Working Group.

A digital Edition of the Guide is available in the INCOSE Store.

Technical Measurement Guide

This Technical Measurement Guide provides information on implementing technical measurement on a project. This guidance is the result of a joint project that was conducted between the Practical Software and Systems Measurement (PSM) project, the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and various companies, particularly Lockheed Martin Corporation. Technical measurement includes Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs), Measures of Performance (MOPs), and/or Technical Performance Measures (TPMs), as well as their relationships to Key Performance Parameters (KPPs).

The Technical Measurement Guide is supported by the Measurement Working Group. Share Your Expertise and join the Measurement Working Group.
This guide describes how technical measurement can be applied, using the measurement process described in Practical Software and Systems Measurement, which is the basis for much of the INCOSE measurement guidance. It is available in the INCOSE Store.

SE Leading Indicators Guide

Executive Summary

The Systems Engineering Leading Indicators Guide editorial Version 2.0 was released on 5 February 2010. This version of the guide supersedes Version 1.0 released in July 2007, as the result of a project initiated by the MIT Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI), in cooperation with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Practical Software and Systems Measurement (PSM), and MIT Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative (SEAri). Additional collaborating organizations involved in Version 2.0 include Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), US Department of Defense Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), and National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Systems Engineering Division (SED). Many leading measurement and systems engineering experts from government, industry, and academia volunteered their time to work on this initiative. The Systems Engineering Leading Indicators Guide is issued by INCOSE as document number INCOSE-TP-2005-001-03. The Version 2.0 guide adds five new leading indicators to the previous thirteen indicators, for a total of eighteen indicators. The guide addresses feedback from users of the previous version of the guide, as well as lessons learned from implementation and industry workshops. The document format has been improved for usability, and several new appendices provide application information and techniques for determining correlations of indicators. Tailoring of the guide for effective use is encouraged.

What are Leading Indicators?

A leading indicator is a measure for evaluating the effectiveness of a how a specific activity is applied on a project to provide information about impacts that are likely to affect system performance objectives. A leading indicator may be an individual measure, or collection of measures and associated analysis predictive of future systems engineering performance before the system is fully realized. Systems engineering performance itself could be an indicator of future project execution and system performance. Leading indicators aid leadership in delivering value to customers and end users, while assisting in taking interventions and actions to avoid rework and wasted effort. Conventional measures provide status and historical information, while leading indicators use an approach that draws on trend information to allow for predictive analysis (forward looking). By analyzing the trends, predictions can be forecast on the outcomes of certain activities. Trends are analyzed for insight into both the entity being measured and potential impacts to other entities. This provides leaders with the data they need to make informed decisions and where necessary, take preventative or corrective action during the program in a proactive manner.

The guide is available in the INCOSE Store.

Project Manager’s Guide to Systems Engineering Measurement for Project Success

This basic introduction to Systems Engineering measures for use by Project Managers is not a comprehensive treatise on creating and implementing a measurement program. Rather, it is an informative guide to assist the PM in determining which measures can best enable the success of the project. If you’re looking for straightforward information and measurement techniques, this is the guide for you.

For the project manager, meeting cost and schedule target measures – while crucial to assessing the performance of this system that produces the product or service – are not all that should be considered to ensure the project achieves the technical objectives and is on the path for success.

Analysis, status reporting, and assessment of the project’s systems engineering measures can complement cost and schedule control, and can help meet programmatic targets. By tracking these SE measures the project manager gains visibility into whether the delivered system will meet its requirements and satisfy the customer’s needs and expectations. The project manager or systems engineer needs to decide which measures are worth addressing or tracking, what tailoring is needed, and how to act upon the results of the measurements. This guide provides explanations and examples of some of the systems engineering data, and how it can be collected, measured, tailored and controlled towards ensuring project success. The Project Manager’s Guide to Systems Engineering Measurement for Project Success is supported by the Measurement Working Group. Share Your Expertise and join the Measurement Working Group.

A softcopy of the Project Manager’s Guide to Systems Engineering Measurement for Project is available for members (you must be logged in) in the INCOSE Store.

SE Competencies Framework 2010-0205

This document describes SE competencies, defined by the INCOSE UKAB WG. They will help people understand what is needed by individuals and teams who do SE. They should be tailored to meet the needs of the individuals and enterprises who use them.

For more information on the SE Competencies Framework 2010-0205 Issue 3, please contact the UK Chapter: enquiries@incoseonline.org.uk. The hardcopy is available on the UK Chapter Store.
Guide to Competency Evaluation - Framework Annex A 2010-0205

This Guide to Competency Evaluation is designed as a companion to the Systems Engineering Competencies Framework Document. It gives guidance on how to evaluate people against the competency framework.
Members may download the Guide to Competency Evaluation - Framework Annex A 2010-0205 Issue 2 UK from the INCOSE Store. There is no charge to members for softcopy.