By the time that you receive this Newsletter there will be little morethan six months to go until the INCOSE 99 Symposium in Brighton. Much of thisNewsletter is devoted to news and information on the event. I make no apologies for thisbecause this is the biggest thing that the UK Chapter has undertaken so far. It isimportant for our standing within INCOSE that we make the Symposium a rip roaring success.
The perceptive amongst you will notice that this Newsletter is only 2months behind the previous one. The aim is to publish bimonthly instead of quarterly inthe run up to I 99. So if you have any material for inclusion in the next issueplease get it to me by mid January. I propose to publish the next issue immediately afterthe International Workshop which is held in the last week of January. By this time theSymposium programme and brochure will be finalised, and you can look forward to theopportunity to sign up for the event when the brochure hits your doormat sometime in lateFebruary.
There will almost certainly be more calls for help and contributions asthe pace hots up in the final run up to the event. Please help us if you can persuade your management to become a sponsor, advertise the event on your companyIntranet, tell non-members about the event (they can join as part of the attendance fee).Things are already looking good with a record number of papers and tutorials being offered the selection committees have the enjoyable but challenging task of down selectingto fit the time available.
Amidst all the excitement about the Brighton Symposium there are manyother things going on. We had the AGM event and a new Nordic chapter has been formed. Wecan look forward to increased European and Scandinavian involvement in INCOSE, furthercementing the I on the front. They have pledged to do all they can to makeBrighton the success it promises to be. I hope that we can count on your support as well.
Pete Lister
The AGM event took place on the 19/20th of October, either side of theAGM itself. The Ivy House Hotel Malborough proved to be every bit as quaint andcomfortable as promised in the brochure. It provided a fine setting for the AGM andassociated events. The food throughout was excellent, and a good time seemed to be had byall. It is fortunate that the numbers did not exceed 35 or so on either day, because theonly flaw with the Ivy House was the small capacity of its conference room.
The first day started with the Peter Robson roadshow, as he gave uschapter and verse on the progress being made on I 99. The major actions that need tobe achieved were reviewed and the session concluded with a call for volunteers to helpwith some of the key tasks.
The afternoon started with John Boardman and Colin Tully giving us anupdate on STEFFIE. Things seem to be moving on apace, with four task groups being set upwith academic involvement to cover the following subjects:
The task groups include industrial partners who are interested in theresults of the particular subjects. It is early days yet, but the results could be ofgreat interest to INCOSE, and I for one look forward to further reports on thegroups findings.
Peter Brook gave a talk on Smart Procurement. For those of us whonumber MoD amongst our customers this proved most interesting, because this initiative iscurrently reshaping the way that we will have to do business. The main difference seems tobe that there will now only be two points (stage gates) where a project will be reviewedfor funding, instead of the current three. MoD are also beginning to think more in termsof a System of Systems, rather than every procurement living in its own littlecontext boundary.
And so we moved on to the AGM dinner. We had been asked earlier in theday for our preferences and I think that all agreed that the quality of the food wasexcellent. There was some initial confusion because there was an unadvertised appetiserthat preceded ones choice of starter. As befits a gathering of systems engineers we tookthis change in requirements in our stride and proceeded to enjoy the rest of the meal. Theconversation went on until the staff pleaded with us to let them get on and set the tablesfor breakfast.
The following morning started with a session that was to be lead byMike Prince. I had the honour of standing in, and presented a few slides before askingdifficult questions of the assembled INCOSE members. The aim was to breathe life into theSE Manifesto and the SEPDC. It was a bit of a shock for all concerned to be roused from apost breakfast dose to a state of full consciousness, but I came away with several pagesof flip chart to analyse. Sadly I have not found the time to do that yet, but I hope tohave something together by the time that the next Newsletter is published. One outcome ofthe discussion was that three members collared me afterwards and asked to join in the atthe next SEPDC meeting (over to you Mike).
Ken Hambleton followed on with an update to the Education and TrainingInitiative. You may have seen the first output in the last Newsletter, when I published alist of SE courses. This list may have seemed a little biased towards UCL, but as Kenexplained, this had a lot to do with the fact that these are the only ones that he has hadinformation about. He is more than keen to be told of others, and those that areidentified will get a free plug in this Newsletter.
The main business part of the AGM followed (see the next article fordetails) shrewdly this was put on before lunch, so there was a very good incentiveto finish on time. The afternoon session was a reprise for the Peter Robson roadshow, forthe benefit of those who did not attend the first morning. He also showed us the glossyslide set that he used at the 98 Symposium. There was an update on the volunteers,and we seem to be in reasonable shape for I 99. See Peters article thatfollows for the latest update.
Pete Lister
The Annual General Meeting took place on 20th October 1998, at The IvyHouse Hotel, Marlborough, Wiltshire commencing at 11.30 am.
Allen reported that the year ending 30th April 1998 had been anothersuccessful year. We had held our 4th Symposium in Luton in June, our AGM built into a twoday event in October, a joint three day event was held in Noordwijk with the NetherlandsChapter and the European Space Agency in November 1997 and a number of small regionalevents were held. We had also completed the organisation and planning for the 1998 eventat Hendon and finished the year with a healthy bank balance.
However, it had not been an altogether easy year in that we had tocontinue employing John Mead to do the majority of the work; everyone else appeared to betoo busy to put in the voluntary work that the organisation had traditionally relied upon.The finances had also been very low towards the end of the year, leading the Board toconsider not proceeding with the Hendon Symposium in June 1998. He thanked DERA, BAe, andGEC for their offer of financial support. The healthy state of the bank balance at yearend was primarily due to a generous contribution from DERA.
The year also marked the winning of the competition to stage the 1999International event in Brighton. This was now well under way with the support of INCOSEInternational and was in the hands of Peter Robson as the General Chair. Allen advisedthat this brought INCOSE UK well into the international spotlight and he looked forward toeveryone rolling up his or her shirtsleeves and making a big success of this Europeanevent. This is the first time it has been held away from the American Continent, and willbe a big indicator of the future of INCOSE in the international arena.
Allen also commented on the increasing membership of the UK Chapterthat had now got up to 211 on the Central office database, but which he understood fromthe Administrator was really at 222. This was the highest the membership had been and wasparticularly encouraging at this time of year, when it is normally at its lowest.
Bob outlined his activities during the year. The most significant eventwas the decision to allow the previous company through which we conducted Chapter businessto lapse and to commence with another of the same name.
Matthew had taken over from Allan Mansfield as treasurer with only fourmonths of the year under review to run. Allan Mansfield has resigned due to an unexpectedjob posting in Hong Kong. Matthew handed out copies of his financial statements. Copieswill be sent to those officers who were not present at the AGM. Any member requiring acopy can request one from John Mead. Matthew reported the accumulated net assets of thecompany at the year end to be £23,182.
The next set of accounts would cover the period 1 May to 30th September1998 (the date of incorporation of the new company), followed by one to 31 May 1999, tobring the accounting year into line with INCOSE International. After this, account periodswere expected to be for twelve month periods.
In the absence of Mike Prince, John Mead read Michaels report andencouraged all to respond to Michaels plea for greater commitment. It should berecorded that a number of offers of help were given by individuals at the AGM.
John reminded everyone of the content of the Calling Notice that hadbeen circulated to all members in the first week of September.
He proposed that in the light of the new company and followingdiscussions at the board meeting on 2nd September he would conduct the election in threephases.
1 The election of the main board.
2 The re statement of the ex-officiomembers.
3 Re-appointment of the operational board members.
1) The Board proposed to the members the following main board for theyear completing on 30 September 1999. The duration was proposed in order to facilitate thecompletion of the INCOSE 1999 major event without the changeover of personnel.
President: Allen Fairbairn
Immediate Past President: Bill Bardo
Treasurer: Matthew Chittick
Secretary: Bob Gates
President Elect: Peter Lister
The voting on the proposal was deemed unanimous in support of theproposition.
2) The ex-officio members of the existing board were re-elected by ashow of hands. They are:
SEPDC Chairman: Michael Prince
Membership and Communications Committee Chairman: Harry Hughes
3) John advised the meeting that the board intended to continue, intothe foreseeable future, with the existing board co-opted members who had all agreed tocontinue.
Industry Chair: Ian McFarlane
Academic Chair: John Boardman
IEE Chair: Patrick Moore
Membership
Allen started with the recent improvement in membership numbers. Whilstthese were encouraging, the Chapter, in common with a general INCOSE pattern, tended notto retain members long term. People joined for a year or two, but then didnt renew.Clearly, we were striking a chord of sorts but were presumably failing to live up toexpectations. This had to be addressed. In the coming year, whilst Brighton was theobvious focus, we mustnt overlook continuity in delivering value. Regional eventswere important. They were the more normal pattern. Even the other European Chapters wereholding monthly events based on a regional centre. The UK seemed alone in being a trulynationally based chapter. The advantage was the annual symposium, which generallyrepresented good value for money. The disadvantage was the apparent neglect of regionallybased activities.
Regional Centres
Allen encouraged any member to consider forming a regionally basedcentre. All that was required was a critical mass of members and prospective members,perhaps based at a large company site. Richard Smith was showing the way at GECMarconis site at Rochester, where events were becoming a joint affair with the IEE.This was a helpful but not essential format. For instance, Allen had been discussingsetting up a regional centre within London Underground that might start as an internalseries of short lectures or events but migrate to a London Centre, open to the generalINCOSE membership. The idea was growing on the back of an existing Systems EngineeringForum within London Underground. So, there are no hard and fast rules and few formalitiesto starting up a regional centre; all that basicaly needs to be provided is enthusiasm anda suitable venue; the Chapter will do the rest in terms of speakers, financing and so on.John Mead and Harry Hughes could be contacted in this regard. Allen looked forward to theday when he and others in INCOSE might be troubled by too many requests to speak atregional meetings held at the weekend as is the practice over in the States.
Executive Director
Allen advised the membership that efforts were continuing withestablishing a paid post of Executive Director for the Chapter. An advertisement had beenposted on the Web site for some months now. The reasoning behind this post was to fill thevoid created by a very real lack of voluntary effort to promote and maintain theChapters mission. Instead of just continuing to make the usual appeals for voluntaryhelp, with the usual response, the post was seen as a practical way of dealing with thereal needs of the Chapter for considerable and intelligent effort to be put into both itspromotion and the maintenance and development of a service to members. The post wasintended to be self-financing, in that the appointees growth of Chapter activitieswould provide the long term source of remuneration. The big three companies of the Chapter BAe, GEC-Marconi and DERA had agreed to provide some initial capital to kick startthe process.
Relations with the IEE
Bill Bardo, Past-President, was following up discussions held with theIEE over the last few months to consider the basis of possible closer relations with them.Whilst each party had clear needs for a separate identity in relation to SystemsEngineering, there were good arguments for a more formalised and structured set of workingarrangements. One possible outcome was the use of the IEE buildings and resources to houseand possibly support the remuneration and activities of an Executive Director. Memberswill be kept informed of developments. The Board is entirely aware of the need to respectINCOSEs mission statement and not to be deflected from this by any workingarrangements with other organisations. In this regard, the Chapters articles ofassociation are plainly stated and will be observed.
INCOSE Technical Committees and Working Groups
Allen reminded members of the considerable extent to which the INCOSEtechnical "community" had now grown. Many Interest Groups had been spawned fromthe six major technical committees. Some UK Chapter members were now actively involved.John Williams had recently been appointed to lead a new Interest Group on Railroads (hisfirst stated action would be to change the name!!).
It was likely that all Members specialist interests could be metthrough these Interest Groups. INCOSE was now seriously promoting the internationalisationof these groupings together with the rest of its activities.The Brighton Event would seeboth the growing importance of these Interest Groups, as well as to present an excellentopportunity for European members to get seriously involved. It was conceded that the UKChapter had probably erred in initially trying to establish its own Interest Groups. Earlyindications had been very favourable, with considerable support in the early days atone-day events such as the one held at Birmingham University in 1995. However, initialsteam within the Chapter had been lost and INCOSE Central were now being serious aboutbeing an Internationally based organisation. Therefore, it made much more sense to commendto UK Chapter members the benefits of joining the centrally based Interest Groups ratherthan to wait for or just bemoan the absence of UK based groups. Indeed, it was not out ofthe question that the Centrally based Interest Groups could form the main centre ofspecialist interest from which more regionally based activity could develop.
International Conference
Allen referred to the International event he had recently attended inVancouver, and said that our key issue for the year was to provide a similarly successfulevent. He suggested that if we were all to be proud of European system engineeringachievements, this event should be even better, and that for this to happen we all neededto volunteer to promote or work for the success of INCOSE 1999. The task was quiteformidable and would be impossible were it not for the work of Peter Robson, supported byhis company, BAe. John Mead was also being sponsored by BAe to contribute considerableeffort to the marketing of the event.
To date, a large number of tutorial proposals (40+) had been receivedand about 130 papers. There was also a growing number of Panel proposals to be considered.In terms of basic, "raw material", the Event was already a success, with clearindications of strong interest from the States as well as Australia and elsewhere inEurope.
Allen gratefully acknowledged offers of help with chairing sessions andreviewing papers. Any further expressions of interest should be sent to him by e-mail.
You can contact Allen Fairbairn by e-mail on:
In the last Newsletter, I concentrated on what every member of the UKChapter could do to help us in marketing the event inside your own organisation and withinother organisations to which you have connections. That offer still stands; Iinvite you all to look again at that challenge and to contact John Mead to let him knowhow you can help and to request marketing material. Stuart Cornes is working away atpreparing an external web site for the event and is also intending to offer a versionsuitable for corporate intranets. Get in touch with Stuart if you could use such material.In advance of this, Ian Sedgley has already set up INCOSE 99 pages on the BAe intranet -thus setting an example?
Ian has also provided an amusing article that I have just sent off forthe next INSIGHT entitled So, where IS Brighton exactly?; I hope it willsurvive the editors cut along with my own INCOSE 99 update (which you will find hassome passing resemblance to parts of this article!) Whilst on the subject of INSIGHT, Ihope you have all read INCOSE 99 Takes Shape in the Fall 1998 edition on page48; this article summarises our marketing pitch that we made in Vancouver and which seemedto go down well. My public thanks go to Ian for looking after the INCOSE 99 booth and toall those who helped to staff it during the exhibition.
We had a well-attended meeting of members of the organising committeeand others prior to the official UK AGM event in Marlborough. I was delighted that severalother members responded to my heart-rending pleas for additional help and I certainly wenthome in a somewhat easier frame of mind!
For this issue of our Newsletter, let me try to give you a brief updateof how our plans are coming along. Already we are confident that INCOSE 99 will have anexcellent overall content. We have more papers submitted, more tutorials proposed and morepanels suggested than we expected! Wow! - this is going to cause some headaches for theTechnical Program Committee! More time is being allocated for tutorials so that you canbenefit from the excellent range of subjects that have been proposed. We were worried thatthe glitch over the paper close date (when we slipped it from October 2nd to November16th) was going to cause a problem - no way! So thanks at this stage to all those who areworking with us to make INCOSE 99 a success.
An invitation pack has gone to all vendors and other exhibitors on ourlist; this list is a consolidation of the Los Angeles (97) and Vancouver (98)contacts together with the lists from previous UK/European events. (See the article laterin the Newsletter for details of the exhibits programme).
As information becomes available, it is placed on the web site and maybe accessed via www.incose.org.uk. Cass Jones from Professional Conference ManagementInc., INCOSEs Symposium Services Provider, is beavering away on travel arrangementsto help our overseas visitors get to Brighton more easily and cheaply! Keep a watch on thesite because this and other useful information may well appear there first.
Our next major deliverable is the INCOSE 99 Brochure that forms themajor mailshot for the event. This is a real challenge because the Symposium is inmid-June rather than at its normal time of late July/early August whilst the InternationalWorkshop (at which the details are given the final OK) is at its usual time at the end ofJanuary! Work on the brochure started in October but a major part of the content is thedetailed program that is heavily dependent on the paper review process which is startingmid-November.) Our reviewers will be working hard so that the brochure can be finalisedand in your hands before the end of February.
For updates on plans and further details refer to the INCOSE 99web site www.incose.org.uk Or contact:
Peter Robson
General Chair
British Aerospace, Grange Road
Christchurch, Dorset
BH23 4JE
e-mail:
Latest news from the Brighton event is that a total of 270 papers havebeen received for review, with a few more known to be coming in! This is a considerableachievement and probably a record for the Annual Conference. Even with six trackswere probably not looking for more than 120 or so papers. We had also received 44tutorial proposals by the due date, so its all looking good for the biggest and bestevent yet see you at Brighton 99!!
Systems engineering makes it industrially!!
QSS won the BCS "IT company of the year" award at the annualBritish Computer Society (BCS) awards on the 4th November. In a highly competitive field,QSSs presentation led to them obtaining the nomination against other innovative ITprojects. This award reflects the work done for the Ministry of Defence in the UK, as wellas for the DOORS product.
Tom Dent, QSS CEO, said "We are delighted with this award, whichreflects the increasing recognition of the importance of requirements. Ten years ago, fewpeople understood systems engineering, but now it is being recognised at a national level.Last year, QSS was awarded the "Private Company of the Year" by the New JerseyTechnology Council, so this award completes a Trans-Atlantic double"
QSS is well-known in INCOSE community, and both Brian McCay and NancyRundlet of QSS have both served as directors of INCOSE. INCOSE is delighted to recognizethe industrial success of QSS and other systems engineering companies. Richard Stevens,founder of QSS, said "QSS has exhibited at every INCOSE meeting since Washington in1994. We owe INCOSE a great deal for spreading the message of systems engineering - thisis an award for the whole systems engineering community"
For more information on the award, seehttp://www.qssinc.com/news/archive.html
Richard Stevens
Members of long-standing will recall the heady days of 1994/5 when theChapter was first formed under the inspired leadership of Derek Hitchins and the world wasour oyster. The enemies of reductionism were all about and project demise by decomposingthe whole to death was a recognised phenomenon. Ostracised by an indifferent anduninformed attitude to Systems Engineering within the IEE, there was a core group ofpeople who wanted to boldly go where few SEers had gone before into True oreven Proper Systems Engineering - where emergent properties were recognised and peopleunderstood that there was more to process than just nipping down and then up the"V" diagram.
To many of us, NCOSE the National Council on SystemsEngineering, as it was then known - was very much a States run organisation for Statestype interests. A very small handful of inaugural Chapter members had actually been to oneof the States based Symposia and had been allowed to pick up some few scraps from the hightable of Systems Engineering.
Encouraged, however, by rumours of support for an internationally basedfuture from the Americans, but with a strong commitment to a significantly different UKtype of Systems Engineering, the Chapter was first formed with the intention of developingthis different view. At the same time, we would benefit from membership of a larger andwell-established organisation that showed promise for an eclectic, internationally basedrepository for something that might just develop into World-class systems engineering.From the inside, rather than the outside, we would then seek to make converts and saveINCOSE from the sterility of prescriptive approaches of infamous MIL, EIA and other suchstandards. We might even be able to come back in a few years time and rescue a fewworthy souls from within the UK Institutions, their spark for true SE almost extinguishedby the multitude of conflicting interpretations to which Systems Engineering is subjectedin such places.
Naturally, we intended to form our own Interest Groups and, at first,four were envisaged. These were to be supplemented by a fifth group that would actuallyhave the task of linking with the States and abstracting anything of use from the InterestGroups over there. Of the forty odd inaugural members, almost all associated with one ormore Interest Groups. A large number of members attended a one-day event for InterestGroups at Birmingham University and regular meetings of the SEPDC (SE Practices andDevelopment Committee) were held. Steve Mallon produced a Manifesto for SE at theChapters Coventry Symposium in 1996, but from then on, it seems, we have failed tocarry through.
It is possible to think of many reasons why the initiative failed. Ihave little doubt that the main reason is an increasingly difficult climate of gettingtime "off" the day job, to do these sort of things. Even when the Chapter basedInterest Groups were being supported by members, it was always de rigeur to be heardsaying things like, "Of course, whatever we do must be directly relevant to the dayjob, otherwise my boss wont support me being here." Phrases such as "focuson deliverables" and "mustnt be a talking shop" were frequentoccupiers of air-time. But, it is difficult in a multi-company organisation like an INCOSEchapter to find common things to focus on. Company priorities are different and nobodyreally wants to say what theyre having trouble with anyway. Steve MallonsManifesto was an heroic attempt to cut through all of this. However, the rest is history.
Meanwhile, back in the States, people were beginning to understand thatthere was more to going International than just sticking an "I" in front ofINCOSE, or renaming the Winter Workshop to the International Workshop, in order to respectantipodian sensitivities (as if they cared an "xxxx"). Peter Brook, as our WorldRegional Director has also saved us from the death by detailed planning syndrome thatINCOSE had launched upon. (Im pleased to say that I have heard little more of thedetailed 20+ page plan for Internationalism that INCOSE produced about 18 months ago). Ihad to admire the document as a triumph of Committee engineering, but it did not survivePeter Brooks pragmatic, questioning and lobbying.
Well, where does all this lead to? It leads to a happy conjunction ofvarious factors for those of us with a particular interest in one of the specialist areasof Systems Engineering. The INCOSE Technical Community is really getting its act together.There are now six main Technical Committees (TCs) with titles as below:
Education and Research
SE Applications
Measurement
Modelling and Tools
SE Management
Processes and Methods
A seventh TC is also planned on Standards. Each of these six TCshas 2 to 5 Working Groups (WGs) or Interest Groups (IGs) associated with it;there are actually a total of 23 listed on page 30 of the INCOSE 98 symposium brochure but that was nearly a year ago and the number is increasing all the time!
However, not only is the range and choice of special interest groupingsincreasing, there is also a distinctly international flavour developing. There areEuropean members on the Technical Board itself and a number of other members, some fromour own chapter, are registered with one or more groups. John Williams, of the UK Chapter,is to chair a new "railroads" Interest Group under the SE Applications TC.
IGs and WGs are also taking on a more prominent role in theSymposium programme, with many side or "fringe" meetings taking place inVancouver and more of this type of activity expected for Brighton.
So, the message is that if you want to engage in specialist technicalSE activity, join an IG, WG or TC, as these are now provided for by INCOSE Central. Notonly are they getting more "friendly", it is also possible to envisage futuregrowth along the lines of regional i.e. national centres associated with the mainor parent body. The sooner we get involved in this process, the sooner we will influencethe international dimension and ensure that we become part of a move to establish trulyworld class systems engineering.
This is not to diminish the role of our own practices and developmentsub-committee. Their new role will need to be fleshed out in detail, but were it not forthem, we would not enjoy our annual national symposium. We also have regional activitiesto plan and prepare for as well as a need to provide a focal point for a distinctly UKflavour for the whole corpus of our SE discipline.
When we started the Chapter in 1994, we naturally felt that we lackedauthority and credibility within INCOSE. We saw the quick route to this as being toestablish a distinctly UK based set of principles and practices. Things have moved on. Wealready have a lot of credibility within INCOSE. The INCOSE 99 Event would not have cometo Brighton if this were not the case. Moreover, we are being very much encouraged to joinin the INCOSE Technical Community and get active! If we take up this invitation, we canexpect to make our views known and influence the future course of SE from within.
Allen Fairbairn
To discover more about the opportunites for corporate sponsorshipplease contact John Mead on:
Phone 01344 422325, fax 01344 481035, or
Preparations for the Exhibition to be held in conjunction with the mainconference at INCOSE 99 are now well underway. An initial invitation, along withdetails of the venue has been sent out to a large number of potential exhibitors. Furtherinvitations to corporate exhibitors and a number of trade associations are currently inpreparation and will be distributed shortly. We have allowed until the 4th January 1999before the final allocation of booth spaces commences, so to ensure the selection of yourpreferred options we recommend booking prior to this date.
We have started receiving booking forms, and have had many enquiriesabout the event. In response to these enquires we have compiled the information belowwhich deals with some of the more frequently asked questions:
How many people will be attending?
We have budgeted cautiously on 600 delegates attending. Based uponfigures from previous years, when around 800 have attended each of the last three events,and in the interest shown so far in this years event, we are hoping to exceed our budgetby a considerable margin.
What is the geographical breakdown of the attendees?
The majority of delegates for the conference will be from America,Europe and Australia, again based upon previous years attendance, and upon the strength ofINCOSE and its associated chapters in these three geographical areas. In Vancouver therewere 194 attendees spanning 14 countries and 94 companies from outside the USA.
What are the main market sectors/industries of the attendees?
We do not currently have a breakdown on this basis but will endeavourto acquire one.
How many exhibitors will there be?
The 1999 exhibition has been limited to 50 booths, with many companiesmaking multiple bookings of these booths. The 1998 event included 34 companies showingtheir wares plus additional stands for INCOSE Working Groups etc.
Who will be exhibiting?
We are expecting a similar range of exhibitors to that of Vancouver98 last year to attend Brighton 99. Typically these included:
If there are any further questions you would like answering in relationto this event, or if your company would like to receive details of the conferences and theexhibition please contact:
INCOSE '99 ExhibitsAlternatively, details about the event and venue can be found on theINCOSE web site:
http://www.incose.org.uk
The new chapter based in Norway has now been launched, and severalINCOSE members living in Norway but previously allocated to the UK Chapter have recentlyleft us. It is good to see that they are not only up, but also running as per the reportbelow.
The NORwegian Systems Engineering Council, NORSEC, is a nationalchapter of INCOSE. NORSEC was initiated in June 1997, and petitioned to join INCOSE duringthe INCOSE'98 symposium in July. The chapter satisfied all requirements for entry and wasofficially chartered in October 1998.
Fariba Hozhabrafkan attended our fall meeting held 25 September 1998 inTrondheim. Our winter meeting is scheduled for 2 December 1998 in Bergen, and anyoneinterested SE are welcome to attend. Our topic is "Best Practices: Application ofDOORS to System Integration" given by Hannu Snellman of MiddleWare Oy /DOORS Nordic.A brief demonstration of the product and the New Jersey DOORSNet connection will followthe presentation. See below for details.
Norwegian members include SE practitioners in the fields of Energy andMarine applications and hope to make valuable contributions to the Applications WorkingGroup. With strong university backing, chapter members have also targeted participation inthe Education and Research Working Group. Close geographic proximity to the UK means thatthe chapter plans to attend and support the next symposium in Brighton next June.
1998 Board of Directors for NORSEC:
NORSEC Winter Meeting and Social
Location: Quality Edvard Greig Hotel and Suites, Bergen.
Any one in the area , or wishing to make the trip please contactCecelia Haskins E-mail
I have edited the UK Newsletter for the last 11 issues. It has been aninteresting and enjoyable assignment, but with my I 99 involvement and now thePresident Elect title it is becoming harder to fit everything in. As a result I would beglad of a volunteer or conscript to take over the editorship.
What does it involve? I liase with John Mead, who has his finger on thepulse of INCOSE UK, and we discuss items for inclusion in the Newsletter. We thenvolunteer people to author the items and jointly cajole them into providing the materialbefore the Newsletter deadline. I try to get most of the input by e-mail so that Idont have to re-type too much.
I then call up my trusty Word template and start bashing all the textin. After a bit of reformatting it starts to take shape. There are a few battles withpictures (such as those provided for Derek Hitchins articles), and hey presto a new issueof the Newsletter appears from the laser printer. There follows a hectic session ofphotocopying and stuffing 320 copies into envelopes, using the labels supplied by JohnMead. And then its all over till next time.
We rely on the generosity of companies to abuse their stationerybudgets, but if AeI is anything to go by, the Newsletter is a small impact on the typicalcopying load. In return your company gets a mention on every issue so there is a payback.
If you are interested, or think that you could be persuaded, get intouch with me and I will answer all your questions. I will also arrange a transitionperiod and advice if you feel that you need a helping hand up the learning curve.
Pete Lister
Congratulations to Peter Brook who has just been re-elected to theINCOSE Board as Director at Large. Peter has apparently agreed to this two year term,which should ensure that our views continue to be heard at top levels, and promote theEuropean/International view within an otherwise US dominated forum.
We have sent this Newsletter to several ex-members, in the hope that itwill jog their memories to send a cheque to John Mead. This simple act will ensure thatyou will continue to receive the benefits of INCOSE membership. These include the Insightmagazine, a quarterly journal and this Newsletter. If have dropped out this year, possiblythrough oversight, send John your subscription.
Several of you have enquired about joining INCOSE, and the necessaryapplication form and other information has been sent. We have sent you this Newsletter onthe expectation that you will complete the form and return it with a cheque to John.
If the form did not arrive or has been mislaid, or you are stillundecided, give John a call with any questions you may have. If we do not hear anythingfrom you, you will be deleted from the mailing list for the next Newsletter.
INCOSE UK currently has 220 members (give or take one or two), eventhough we have just lost five to Norway (see separate article). This is our best ever, andhopefully means that some things are being done correctly. We hope that we will continueto grow with the influence of INCOSE 99.
If you have any queries on membership issues, or wish to join (rejoin)then contact John Mead:
20 Beehive Lane
