The Digital Engineering Body of Knowledge is Now Live
The cornerstone of digital transformation within the DoD is the DoD 2018 Digital Engineering Strategy. Key components needed to meet the goals outlined in the digital strategy include the development of the Digital Engineering Body of Knowledge (DEBoK). As noted on the DEBoK website, “As new reference architectures, policies, guidance, standards are proposed/realized through the Enterprise Architecture Engineering Panel and the Digital Modernization Infrastructure Executive Committee, Research & Engineering’s engagement focus is to provide consistent technical engineering and Digital Engineering (DE) guidance and influence to effect successful digital transformation through DE implementations, concepts and practices.”
Sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, (OUSD(R&E)), and led by Mr. Daniel Hettema, OUSD(R&E), the DEBoK is a collaborative research task undertaken by the government DEBoK team. Mr. Hettema is the Director of Digital Engineering, Modeling and Simulation (DEM&S) within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. He oversees DoD-wide strategy, policy, and coordination in DEM&S and promotes the advancement of digital practices in defense acquisition.
The newly launched DEBoK website further emphasizes that, “The purpose of the DEBoK is to capture knowledge through documentation to assist with the transition from traditional acquisition processes to a digital environment. The DEBoK will allow professionals to engage with one another with DoD Services and Agencies to include acquisition professionals, analysts, modelers, engineers, and Warfighters. The DEBoK will allow these professionals to bring together all the captured knowledge to support Digital Engineering Transformation.”
Mr. Tom McDermott, Chief Technology Officer for the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) serves on the DEBoK Governance Board and SERC researcher Dr. Nicole Hutchison serves on the DEBoK Steering Committee.
To read more about the genesis of this work, view the 2021 NDIA presentation by Ms. Philomena Zimmerman, former Deputy Director, Engineering Tools and Environments, US DoD.