Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), the formal application of
modeling to systems engineering activities, is widely used by the defense community
for the development of new systems. It is used across the entire system life cycle, from
the initial formulation of requirements through design and development to testing,
production, and ultimately, operations. A major focus of MBSE is developing a system
model that captures all relevant information about a system in a single model that can
be viewed from multiple perspectives. This enables multidisciplinary and multiorganizational teams to communicate more effectively, manage change more
efficiently, and trace the system architecture from initial stakeholder requirements to
detailed engineering design decisions. In turn, the employment of MBSE results in a
better-quality product that is delivered on schedule and within budget. MBSE is widely
used in the defense industry for all of the aforementioned reasons and is now coupled
with other modern engineering and product life-cycle management methods as part of a
larger digital engineering ecosystem. This increasing demand makes it important for
defense project managers to understand what MBSE is, what is required to implement
it, and how to use it to inform decisions, reduce risk, and produce high-quality
products. This chapter defines MBSE, reviews key MBSE elements including tools,
modeling languages, and architecture frameworks, assesses project management
decisions related to implementing MBSE on a project, and discusses how MBSE can
inform key project management processes.
Keywords: Digital engineering (DE), Model-based systems engineering (MBSE), Project management (PM), Systems modeling language (SysML).
