An Ontological Framework for Knowledge Management in Systems Engineering Processes

Systems Engineering (SE) processes comprise highly creative and knowledge-intensive tasks that involve extensive problem-solving and decision-making activities among interdisciplinary teams (Meinadier, 2002). SE projects involve the definition of multiple artifacts that present different formalization degrees, such as requirements specification, system architecture, and hardware/ software components. Transitions between the project phases stem from decision making processes supported both by generally available domain knowledge and engineering experience. We argue that Knowledge about engineering processes constitutes one of the most valuable assets for SE organizations. Most often, this knowledge is only known implicitly, relying heavily on the personal experience background of system engineers. To fully exploit this intellectual capital, it must be made explicit and shared among project teams. Consistent and comprehensive knowledge management methods need to be applied to capture and integrate the individual knowledge items emerging in the course of a system engineering project. Knowledge management (KM) is a scientific discipline that stems from management theory and concentrates on the systematic creation, leverage, sharing and reuse of knowledge resources in a company (Awas el al, 2003). Knowledge management approaches are generally divided into personalization approaches that focus on human resources and communication, and codification approaches that emphasize the collection and organization of knowledge (McMahon et al. 2004). In this work, we consider the latter approach for KM. Special focus is put on the comprehensive modeling of system engineering project knowledge. This knowledge partly resides in the product itself, while a lot of different types of knowledge are generated during the engineering processes. The background information such as why engineers came up with the final shape or geometry, what constraints were to be considered in engineering processes, and so on, can not be found either (Chan-Hong.P et al.2007). In other words, most of design rationale either disappear or exist partially in the form of engineering documents. The analysis of current engineering practices and supporting software tools reveals that they adequately support project information exchange and traceability, but lack essential capabilities for knowledge management and reuse.( C. Brandt et al., 2007) 10