Overcoming 5 Government Challenges of Model-Based Engineering

The accelerating pace of innovation has significantly increased the complexity of designing and developing new technology, particularly for the Department of Defense (DOD) and other government agencies.

This evolution has led to the emergence of a new discipline known as model-based systems engineering (MBSE). It revolves around the use of digital models as a centerpiece for development activities, replacing the hard-to-interpret language found in massive text-based requirements documents. The idea is to streamline discussions across functional areas for improved communication and collaboration.

The Pentagon made MBSE a central tenet of its 2018 Digital Engineering Strategy. That sweeping document focuses acquisition and program officers and the industry on building complex data analysis capabilities to "automate processes and optimize designs" of critical warfighting technology "in ways never before achievable."

However, for many reasons, the DOD and other government agencies have made only modest progress in adopting MBSE, preventing them from realizing the full benefits of seeking to deliver critically needed equipment to the field on time and on budget. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Here are five challenges for governments in implementing model-based engineering and insights on how partnering with industry experts like Sumaria Systems can accelerate this vital transformation.

1. Cultural Resistance to Change

Whether it's for networking of battlefield communications, transformative air-traffic control technology, agency-wide cyber-security modernization, or other complex projects, MBSE offers a modern framework for agencies and industries to work together more efficiently toward a unified goal.

But the first step is the hardest. Government consists of people, many of whom have grown accustomed to doing things a certain way. The ideas represented by model-based engineering can shock the system and cause even the most committed agency employees to hesitate. It means a wholesale shift, and the government generally doesn't incentivize taking risks.

The Environmental Protection Agency's chief technology officer once said during a panel discussion: “If you work within the bureaucracy for decades, yes, someone is always going to come in with some new thing, a change, and you build up an immunity to new ideas.” The data supports that idea for MBSE. A 2018 survey found that most MBSE practitioners in government (57%) cited "awareness and resistance to change" as a principal challenge to implementation.

Choosing the right partner can help teams become more comfortable with the realities of digital engineering and MBSE. Sumaria Systems provides advisory and assistance and engineering and technical assistance services consulting that supports integrated program management, logistics and analysis, prototyping, and system test and engineering experience.

2. Technology and Agency Interoperability

The federal government's scope presents another significant challenge for MBSE. By its very nature, the system requires a commonality of purpose, but it's not always possible to get multiple stakeholders perfectly aligned on every variable.

Agencies and industry partners select MBSE software applications and related tools that best address their needs and resources. Their differing choices may lead to technical incompatibilities that can cause friction, hinder collaboration, and slow the adoption of MBSE.

For example, various MBSE programs may have different data exchange formats, preventing information sharing between stakeholders at multiple levels. Poor information sharing can result in less robust and accurate modeling and create confusion over details, adding another obstacle to delivering for stakeholders and the taxpayer.

Different agencies and partners may also have different validation and verification standards, which can add time and budget to schedules and present challenges for consistency.

Another challenge lies in budgeting realities. Various agencies may compete for the same budget dollars, creating a disincentive to cooperate. Government agencies will constantly struggle to balance competing mission perspectives, individual units or divisions will tend to press the case about why they need a specialized tool, and agency leaders will prefer a standardized tool as a more efficient choice.

Interoperability between MBSE data standards is an acknowledged challenge that the industry is working toward solving. A 2020 Aerospace and Defence PLM Action Group study described system architecture interoperability as "painfully limited."

3. Integrating with Legacy Systems and Processes

Once agencies and their partners standardize on a common MBSE platform, they face an additional integration challenge. They still have to fit their MBSE work into an existing patchwork of legacy systems and processes, which poses its own set of potential obstacles.

Many agencies have survived over the years by leaning on proprietary software and homegrown, customized solutions that simply may not interface properly with more modern model-based engineering software and processes. Interoperability between old and new systems leaves a potential gap in terms of data exchange, storage, and protection. Proprietary tools are frequently designed without the standard interfaces that enable one program to talk to another.

Getting data from legacy systems into the MBSE approach is hard enough, yet agencies may also face challenges in ensuring that the data transfers faithfully and with accuracy intact. Legacy systems may also need to be more robust in terms of storage and processing power to handle the new loads from MBSE, which often increase the closer a project gets to completion.

There's also the issue of continuity. Agencies must continue progressing on existing programs using legacy methods while balancing the resources required from new MBSE activities. In short, the agency has to continue doing business as usual while adjusting to the new ways of MBSE, which can sometimes lead to adaptation challenges.

The choice of partner plays an important role here. Sumaria Systems has extensive experience helping agency teams migrate to a model-based systems engineering environment. Its teams help oversee and optimize the collection of IT projects and assets in alignment with division and agency objectives, optimizing for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

4. Security and Data Protection in Model-Based Engineering

Even in a perfectly interoperable MBSE environment, agencies and partners may hesitate to embrace the new world due to information security and data protection concerns. By its very nature, model-based engineering calls for integrating various levels of data into a cohesive whole, which understandably may create additional risks or potential vulnerabilities.

These issues are varied, ranging from access control and authentication (i.e., who gets to see what data) to compliance with a growing set of standards and regulations to data backup and recovery.

Data security in MBSE gets even more complicated with the presence of external partners, which requires strict adherence to third-party risk management. Delivering on MBSE's promise against these realities can seem daunting, and in some instances, lives are on the line. The Sumaria Systems team has the expertise to help.

5. Training and Skill Gaps

No matter how advanced the technology, successful implementations of model-based engineering—in government or business—depend on the advanced expertise of employees. Reading and understanding text-based specification documents requires one set of skills, and translating those skills to the visual paradigms of MBSE calls for a different set of capabilities.

Since employees may have to move along a steep learning curve, training and skill gaps may present obstacles in adapting to MBSE's new ways. For example, employees in a legacy model may have grown used to thinking only about the requirements of their functional area. MBSE depends on taking an interdisciplinary systems of systems approach, requiring employees to think beyond borders.

Employees must also become proficient in new and unfamiliar software and statistical modeling techniques. In short, it will take time and money to prepare today's workforce to adapt to next-generation technology.

Reduce Model-Based Engineering Risk and Increase Success with Sumaria Systems

The complexities of model-based engineering are challenging for any small workforce or unit of government to address alone. Choosing the right industry partner can make all the difference.

For more than forty years, Sumaria Systems has applied digital engineering and MBSE concepts across many complicated defense and intelligence projects, including basic research and development, long-range precision fires, crewless vehicles, next-gen combat vehicles, and air and missile defense.

Sumaria Systems is a reliable and trusted industry partner that uses a series of services, including advisory, assistance, and advanced analytics AI, to convert documents into integrated and interconnected digital models. With over forty years of experience, numerous ISO and CMMI Level 3 certifications, and a clean compliance record with UTD registrations in SAM.gov, Sumaria is a trusted option for government contract awards, with no history of suspension or debarment. Contact Sumaria during your next program to get support for the nation's vital missions with the highest degree of responsiveness, effectiveness, and efficiency.