Deciding Where to Start

The process of modeling can be quite daunting for engineers new to Model Based Systems Engineering. More than anything else is, apparently, the issue of where to start modeling - the engineer's equivalent of the artist's 'blank canvas' inertia.

Enterprise Architect provides a welcomed solution to this issue, by providing a series of patterns that can be used to create starting points for an initiative or project, including all of the SysML diagram types with a number of patterns for each type. For more information see the The Model Wizard Help topic,

Textbooks typically describe a series of steps that should be carried out in a prescribed order, but in practice these recipes don't work because projects are substantially more complex than the generic ways described in the books, and complex project and resource dependencies mean that tasks cannot be performed in a prescribed order.

The starting point will typically be determined by the engineering method or process being used for the project, which could be a waterfall, an iterative, a combination of both or another type of process. Regardless of the type of process being used, having a clear understanding of the mission is often a good starting point, and defining the affected stakeholders and their concerns and requirements is often a good next step.