Join INCOSE NZ for another meet-up on 5 November, at 12:00pm NZT. In this midday session, , Grace Kennedy, chair of the INCSOE Human Systems Integration Working Group, will provide an overview of all things Human Systems Integration and Human Factors Integration in the INCOSE sphere of influence:

Topic: An Introduction to Human Systems Integration (HSI) - the dual perspectives of Systems Engineering and Human Factors.  
Abstract: Join our lunchtime session with guest speaker, Grace Kennedy (Chair of the INCOSE HSI Working Group), to explore all things Human Systems Integration/Human Factors Integration.  In systems development, trying to fit the human to the technology is a risky, and some would say, futile situation in terms of achieving system performance and safety assurance. An HSI approach enables us to not only fit the technology to the human, but to develop human-centred designs that let the human be human, and enables us to think in terms of the design and behaviour of the total sociotechnical system.  So how do we explicitly include the human voice within the systems engineering process?  Through a series of examples, we'll cover what HSI is (and what it isn't), why's it needed and when, who does it and how both SEs and HFs can collaborate to ensure that the human is considered adequately throughout the systems lifecycle.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kBIF-PjKXSo?si=iaK62HeQq8mpa-Ls

Join INCOSE NZ for another meet-up on 3 September, 5:15pm. After a brief bit of chapter and INCOSE news, we'll be featuring a synopsis of IS 2024 and a look into an approach approach to requirements with John Welford of WSP titled “IS 2024: Systematically Pulverised EARS - Improvements in requirements authoring and presentation”:

Guidelines are a starting point for requirement writing, but are not sufficient to ensure sensible and well-crafted statements. We draw inspiration from New Zealand major infrastructure projects, a 1957 paper on legal documents, a viral social media maths puzzle, and the rules of the Road Runner cartoons, to propose syntax extensions, syntax highlighting, and a set of rules and suggestions around grammar and structure that can be used to write and present easily understood requirements.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DJbfznlo8IA?si=stX9snpH7dfHR6km

Join us on Tuesday, 23 July, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the July 2024 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After some updates from the chapter and general announcements, we'll feature a presentation from Dhanush Laxman, of Aurecon, titled “Red-Amber-Green – How Systems Engineers make the complex traffic signals look simple”  

The presentation will summarise on how systems engineering techniques are applied to the domain of Intelligent Transport Systems. Systems engineering has been adopted in the field of ITS for more than 2 decades. The content will take a deep dive into the project life cycle processes involved with traffic signals and urban traffic control centres and include examples from applications in Abu Dhabi and New Zealand. The presentation will conclude on how not following SE is definitely a recipe for failure.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MyiZYjxjYec?si=kB1M4UQDJY0IYYuV

Join us on Wednesday, 8 May, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the May 2024 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Shashini Ranabahu, of Massey University, titled “Dynamics of resilience to floods of community mobility - an opportunity to "build back better" through systems thinking.”  

This study demonstrates how recovery can improve the system after a disruption (build back better), taking the Kaduwela urban area in the Western Province of Sri Lanka as a case study. A quantitative System Dynamics model is developed to evaluate the resilience of the community mobility system related to the 2016 flood based on a conceptual causal loop diagram created with the participation of local people. This model is used to simulate "what if" scenarios to demonstrate the system's dynamics, which allows one to understand what should be changed to reduce the recovery time or level of disruption. This framework provides an opportunity to think and re-think the decisions because the simulation results can show how the changes in the system components affect the overall system or, in other words, the consequences of the decisions.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIgxxXJJVgU

For members only: INCOSE NZ convened the 2024 annual general meeting of its membership.  

(This was a members only event.)

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rUS7Dt-gh38

Join us on Tuesday, March 26th, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the March 2024 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Dr. Megan Boston, University of Waikato, providing a “A systems approach to assessing critical facility functionality post earthquake.” 

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zbE55UnBzV0

The first INCOSE NZ meet-up of 2024 is scheduled for 21 February 2024, 5:30-6:30pm NZT! We'll give you some general chapter updates and news and then John Welford of WSP will deliver a presentation, "Understanding Interface Criticality in Large Infrastructure Projects." Abstract and Zoom details below! 

Abstract: Managing interfaces has been recognised as key to mitigating the risk of project failure and is becoming more prominent in complex infrastructure projects. We review how interfaces in infrastructure projects are traditionally identified, defined, owned, assessed, and managed and provides recommendations on how to better align this with a whole-of-system approach through an assessment of interface criticality. We the apply this to the redesign of two rail-enabled ferry terminals.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ERtf8h6Pgg

Join us on Tuesday, 26 September, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the September 2023 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Russell McMullan, City Rail Link Ltd, on SFAIRP guidance in rail systems safety in New Zealand.  

This presentation aims to show the process and challenges with creating industry guidelines. This presentation will introduce the National Rail Industry Advisory Forum (NRIAF) and the collectively agreed challenges facing the rail industry. The presentation will then explore the system safety workstream, and the identified need for industry guidance to assist rail participants in their demonstration of reducing risk So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable (SFAIRP) as defined in the Railways Act. The process of developing the guideline will be covered, along with an overview of the final document. 

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gRQJKlVsWW0

Join us on Tuesday, 22 August, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the August 2023 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Steve Wallace, Shoal Group, providing a summary of the 33rd annual INCOSE International Symposium held in July 2023 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Steve will give a high level overview of the INCOSE International Symposium 2023 which was held in Honolulu on 15-20 July. Steve’s overview will include the salient points from the plenary talks, attended workshops and themes from the papers, posters and presentations that were accepted as part of the symposium.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lYI4PuRz9w0

Join us on Tuesday, 25 July, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the July 2023 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Nick Pickering, University of Waikato, providing a summary of the 18th annual System of Systems Conference held in June 2023. 

The Eigthteenth International Conference on System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) with its vast ramifications in numerous engineering fields such as control, computing, communication, information technology and in applications such manufacturing, defense, national security, aerospace, aeronautics, energy, environment, healthcare, and transportation. The conference theme is “AI and Autonomous Robotics in System of Systems”. Nowadays, autonomous robotic systems are increasingly used in complex environments such as: industry 4.0, military, medical, agriculture, space,…, not only by their monolithic configuration but also with its cooperative behavior. These engineering systems are generally heterogeneous and independent at both managerial and operational levels. They can coexist and cooperate in order to achieve objectives that one robotic system cannot achieve alone. They are geographically dispersed with only an information exchange, with a time or dimension evolutions.

An INCOSE Special Session coordinated by the INCOSE SoSE WG was held at the conference. This conference reflects the INCOSE SE Vision, covering not only the Systems of Systems, but also the key application areas discussed in the Vision.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8y4_304XISQ

For members only: INCOSE NZ convened a special general meeting of its membership to review proposed changes to the Incorporated Society’s constitution and bylaws.  

(This was a members only event.)

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GDmwnUxNO48

Join us on Tuesday, 16 May, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the May 2023 INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation on systems engineering in a transport context from Richard Fullalove from Transport for New South Wales, "Systems Engineering State of Play in Transport for NSW".

This topic presents the current state of play of the practice and capability maturity of Systems Engineering in Transport for NSW. It identifies the organisational structure and governance arrangements for SE, the range of standards and guidance available to SE practitioners within TfNSW and our supply chain Technically Assurance Organisations. It identifies key working groups and communities of practice tasked to either develop SE capability (WGs) or to share lessons and sustain SE learning and capability (CoPs) as well as training. It discusses the need for practical scaling and tailoring of SE across a broad spectrum of system types and associated delivery projects of widely varying novelty, complexity and risk. It identifies the suite of SE tools, methods and processes used across all transport modes. It discusses the emergence of model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as the way forward from traditional document-based SE, and how it has been successfully applied on certain projects to date. It discusses the emergence of resilience, in particular asset or system resilience against climate and human-induced risks, as a key issue that can best be addressed using systems thinking and the SE approach. Finally it discusses the increasing adoption of SE in non-rail transport modes such as motorways, and compares rail and road to identify similarities and differences.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QlGbLhNRwDM

Join us on Tuesday, 28 March, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for another INCOSE NZ meet-up! After a bit of chapter and regional activity business, we'll feature a presentation from Chris Ford of Beca Applied Technologies: A Systems Engineering and the P-3K2 Orion: A Retrospective.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force is retiring their P-3K2 Orion aircraft after years of service. The platform and its capabilities have evolved and expanded to address growing and changing operational needs. "Brownfield" updates and upgrades necessitate a thoughtful, systematic method applied to design, integration, operation, and maintenance: the trades between what is needed and what is possible require a holistic approach to capability definition and realisation. Chris Ford, Principal - Systems Engineer, of Beca Applied Technologies, was part of the entire lifecycle of the P-3K2 mission system. In this presentation, Chris will provide a retrospective view of how systems engineering enabled program success over the 15 year program.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OcD7q-rc7UI

Join us on Tuesday, 28 Feb, 5:15-6:45pm NZT, for the first INCOSE NZ meet-up of 2023! We'll share some chapter and regional activity updates, followed by a presentation from Cobus van Zyl of Cubic Defence: "Verification versus Validation – What’s the Difference and Why Should We Care"

Cobus will share some lessons learned and lessons observed from his experience working across the systems engineering Vee life cycle in defence, aviation, and technology, with a focus on requirements, verification vs validation, and traceability. While they are similar, validation and verification can have subtle distinctions that result in major differences when moving between organisations, sectors, and technologies -- possibly leading to confusion and frustration. Cobus' talk provides a forum to encourage discussion and debate amongst New Zealand's Systems Engineering community so that we can better appreciate and explain the V&V distinctions.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H27SzsklUVA

For members only: INCOSE NZ convened the annual general meeting of its membership to report on chapter status, to report on chapter finances, to install the elected Committee members, and the review and vote on various motions.  

(This was a members only event.)

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wIOlOssxAy4

Join us on Tuesday, 22 November 2022, 5:15-6:45pm! We'll share a chapter and membership update -- including info about chapter elections -- followed by a presentation from John Welford of WSP: "Requirements schemas for large multidisciplinary projects"

Whilst international standards and best practice documents provide high-level guidance in the structure and delivery of Requirements Management and Verification and Validation activities, there is still room for considerable variation in the fine details of implementation; this variation often occurs across even relatively similar projects, based on the delivery teams, organisations and individuals involved. Seemingly minor decisions in requirements structure made early in the project lifecycle can have significant impacts in terms of the management and verification effort needed later in the works, particularly where projects are large, and delivery is spread across multiple disciplines. This work discusses several options for structuring requirements schemas, focussed on the delivery of large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects, and in support of a move towards increasingly model-based delivery. It specifically discusses requirements development, requirements allocation, and design verification against requirements. Recent New Zealand rail and infrastructure projects, City Rail Link and the Interislander Resilient Connection, are used as examples to highlight differences in approach and present pros and cons.

Link to recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H0k_dHhFXOo

Join us on Tuesday, 25 October 2022, 5:15-6:45pm! We'll share a chapter and membership update followed by a presentation from Bruce Knobbs of Cubic Defence: Closing the Verification to Requirements loop

This case study will describe the current approach used in Cubic, New Zealand, to close the loop once requirements have been verified in the test environment.  The use of a DOORS to Jira integration is explained with the output of the process being used to generate stories by the Engineering Team.  On completion of the engineering tasks, the results from the test environment are used in the verification to complete the feedback to ensure requirements have been satisfied. The process is semi-automated and the current state of development is described. A brief introduction to Cubic is also included for context.

This event was not recorded.

Join us on Tuesday, 23 August, from 5:15 - 6:45pm NZ Time. We'll provide a brief update on the status of our chapter charter and share other INCOSE NZ news, before a presentation from Russ McMullan on the Value Proposition Canvass and its application in systems engineering. 

This presentation will introduce the ‘Value Proposition Canvass’ and talk though Russ’s experience of using the canvass to understand the value offering of Systems Engineering and the gaps that emerged in many SE offerings. Russ will then discuss how that gap might be resolved.

This event was not recorded.

Join us on Tuesday, 28 June, from 5:15 - 6:45pm NZ Time. We'll provide a brief update on the status of our chapter charter and share other INCOSE NZ news, before a presentation from Dan Spencer of Spencer Tech on MBSE.

An Overview of MBSE and Facilitated Discussion with INCOSE New Zealand
Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) has grown as theme in systems engineering circles over 30 years. While adoption of MBSE is quite prevalent, there are still divergences in understanding of these approaches in systems engineering practice. This presentation aims to start a conversation about: what MBSE is – and what it isn’t; how it can fit as a key part of digital engineering for an enterprise; some costs and benefits of implementing MBSE; and some lessons learned from real-world examples across industries. A facilitated Q&A session and discussion of MBSE with the INCOSE NZ community will follow.

This event was not recorded.

Join us for another systems community event 24 May, from 5:15 - 6:45pm NZ Time. We'll provide a brief update on the status of our chapter charter and share other INCOSE NZ news, before a presentation from Nick Pickering of the University of Waikato. 

Towards a Horticulture System of Systems implementing an Autonomous Survey Robot and Orchard Digital Twin
Agriculture is facing a period of unprecedented change resulting from the requirement to feed c. 10 billion mouths by 2050, while operating in an environment of labour shortages and increasing sustainability expectations. To meet these challenges many are looking to industry 4.0 technology as a solution, specifically the combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), in-field and digital twins. Although there have been successful prototypes and promising start-ups, the complex nature of the horticulture growing and supply chain systems creates a significant risk of mass adoption failure due to the silo’d technology approach leading to usability, availability, viability and interoperability challenges.

A joint academia/industry project is working towards a collaborative System of Systems (SoS) through the use of a shared autonomous survey robot and digital twin platform. The programme has started with kiwifruit flower counting and canopy cover identification to support grower decision making on crop loading and labour allocation, with plans to expand the collaboration into the areas of pest/disease detection, fruit estimation and harvest optimisation. This presentation explains how Industry 4.0 and a SoS approach could assist the horticulture industry to accelerate innovation and scale adoption for research, industry and government partners to be better together. Q&A session to follow. 

This event was not recorded.

Join us for another systems community event 12 April, from 5:15 - 6:45pm NZ Time. We'll provide a brief update on the status of our chapter charter and share other INCOSE NZ news, before a presentation from Jake Vanderlinde and John Furness of Shoal

A Systems Thinking Approach to Navigating Regulations for Autonomous Systems

Autonomous systems are becoming more prominent in both development and operations in a variety of industries and domains. However, domain specific regulations are struggling to keep up with the technology. This creates a significant bottle neck as developers/operators do not have a clear path to testing and operating the systems in public spaces under control from regulators.
Jake VanderlindeandJohn Furnesswill share insights on tools and techniques that Shoal is developing tools to help developers of marine autonomous vessels develop and execute test and evaluations plans that provide the assurance required by the Australian maritime regulators to allow the operation of autonomous marine vessels in Australian waters. These techniques include simulation environments that allow a cost effective method for the operators to demonstrate compliance to regulations that are suited to simulation testing. While Shoal is currently working in the maritime domain, the techniques being developed are designed to be scaled to other domains including air, space and land. Q&A session to follow.

This event was not recorded.

Join us for our first community event of 2022 on 15 March from 5:15-6:45pm. We'll provide a brief update on the status of our chapter charter and share other INCOSE NZ news, before hearing from John Welford about a proposed working group with a transportation focus. 

John Welford (WSP) is proposing a New Zealand working group for Transportation. He will give a short presentation around Systems Engineering and Integration work that WSP has been involved with in the Rail and Transit, and the benefits that they see for large projects such as the forthcoming Auckland Light Rail works. This will be rounded off by some notes on how the overall INCOSE Transportation Working Group operates and suggestions for actions and activities that we may wish to focus on within an NZ working group. There will be time after this for open discussion on the possibility of an NZ Transport Working Group, and more generally on NZ working groups for other domains.

This event was not recorded.

Our next meet-up for INCOSE(NZ) is on the books. Join us on the evening of 7 December, 5:15pm – 6:45pm! The virtual event will feature a presentation from Christian Parra-John (Shoal) and Paul Fergusson (SNC-Lavalin) on Reference Control, Command, and Signalling (CCS) Architecture (RCA).

European rail infrastructure managers, like their New Zealand counterparts, must optimize cost, reliability, safety, capacity, and fast migration. Assets must be renewed while new technologies are introduced. Incompatibilities between vendor products and protocols create high procurement and implementation costs and Whole of Life (WoL) investment risks. Inflexible old architectures bind asset owners to technologies, processes and suppliers which are not making best use of the possibilities of today. Expensive migration challenges, often relating to interfaces and product interoperability, hinder the infrastructure managers from changing their situation fast or cost effectively enough, including the changes required to the various non-asset business elements that enable and influence business performance and output.

We will show how the Reference Control, Command, and Signalling (CCS) Architecture (RCA) can be leveraged in a New Zealand context in conjunction with Digital Engineering approaches to improve asset upgrade and technology innovation whilst simultaneously:

• Significantly reducing Whole of Life (WoL) costs

• Reducing technical risks like those relating to system integration and vendor product interoperability and supportability

• Improving the speed at which asset upgrades and network migrations can be implemented

• Improving how new or upgraded systems are folded into the business’ Asset Management function

• Demonstrating that business case objectives and performance criteria relating to service capacity, frequency, reliability, and safety, are met. 

This event was not recorded.

The next meet-up will be held on Tuesday, 9 November, and will feature a presentation and panel discussion on the INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional Certification. 

Join us for an informative ASEP / CSEP panel discussion with Steve Dennehy (CSEP)(Aurecon), Thomas McKay (ASEP*)(Beca), and Luke Fischer (CSEP)(WSP) chaired by Christian Parra-John (ASEP)(Shoal). The panel will be discussing their own experiences with the ASEP and CSEP certification process, their motivations for pursuing certification, and tips and tricks for completing the application and passing the knowledge exam.  This discussion will be particularly beneficial for those going through the process or those who are considering pursing ASEP/CSEP certification themselves.

This event was not recorded.