7.2.2 A Systems Engineering Tools Taxonomy

The goal of this paper is to provide a classification of tools that may be useful to systems engineers in understanding tool choices for the automation of their work. The material here draws upon input from the NCOSE tools committee members and published work. The tools automate the systems engineering process. Each kind of tool performs particular functions and captures particular sets of information. In this paper the tools are classified into several categories that are helpful in making tool selections. The classification of tools by how they are used is considered in detail through several layers of decomposition. The tool classes defined by classification by use can be mapped to the systems engineering process to show exactly how the tools are used, what functions they perform what information they capture, and how they interface with one another. That mapping is considered in a companion paper. In the sections that follow descriptions are given for: A general classification of tools A detailed classification of tools by use