Lecture 1: Understanding The INCOSE Certification Process
Lecture 1: Understanding The INCOSE Certification Process
Lecture 1: Understanding The INCOSE Certification Process
Tutorial on the
INCOSE SE Handbook V4.0 in
Preparation for SEP Certification Exam
Webinar Agenda
• Why Systems Engineering?
• What is INCOSE?
• What is the INCOSE SEP Certification?
• Review the INCOSE SEP Certification
Application Process
• Review the Key Requirements of Certification
– Education – Application
– Experience
– Knowledge – Exam
Your Instructor
What is INCOSE?
INCOSE Products
• Annual INCOSE International
Symposium
• Journal of Systems Engineering
• INSIGHT Magazine
• Systems Engineering Body of
Knowledge (SEBoK)
• OMG Systems Modeling Language
(OMG SysML™)
• INCOSE Systems Engineering
Handbook
The INCOSE certification program has been developed as the highest quality,
independent assessment of system engineering professionals.
Purpose and Design (benefits)
• Systems engineering community:
– Creates the standard to identify and develop systems engineering
professionals .
– Establishes a formal, recognized body of knowledge for the systems
engineering community.
• System engineering professionals:
– Provides a portable standard of recognition for attainment of knowledge,
education, and experience.
– Its recertification requirements serve as a mechanism for continued
professional development.
• Organizations/institutions:
– A universal, industry-approved measure of a professional’s knowledge –
achieved through the independent evaluation of relevant tasks, projects,
and programs.
What Is Certification?
• It’s NOT a Certificate: a document attesting to the fact
that a person has completed an educational course
• It’s NOT a License: formal permission by the State to
carry on some business or profession.
• Certification is:
– Confirmation of an individual's competency
(demonstrated education, experience, and knowledge)
in a specified profession or occupational specialty
– A formal process Issued by an organization
– Voluntary
• It is neither a barrier nor a gate to entering a job
• However, it may be used as a qualifier in placement
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process 11
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
INCOSE SEP
Certifies SE
Experienced, Experience,
Knowledgeable Knowledge and
Systems Engineers Education
For individuals…
• Formally recognizes your Systems
Engineering capabilities
• Provides a discriminator for job applicants
• Provides a competitive advantage in your
career
• Provides a portable Systems Engineering
designation that is recognized across
industry domains.
• Participation in continuing education
indicates your commitment to personal
development
INCOSE Certification sets you apart!
• Individuals
– Recognition
• Designation on business card,
resume, signature, etc
– Performance objective
• Organizations
– Performance expectation
– Career ladder alignment
– Job advertisement
– Proposal discriminator
– Supplier qualification
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process 19
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
As of 31 August 2018:
SEP Candidates
Entry Level
Associate Systems
Engineering Professional
Application
Development
Pass
Notify Notify 5 year
Applicant Applicant Certification
Timeline
Foundation Level
Certified Systems
Engineering Professional
• Targeted towards Systems Engineers with five or more
years of Systems Engineering work experience
• CSEPs are certified against substantiated experience,
education, and knowledge requirements
• Experience must be substantiated by 3-5 work-related
references
• Knowledge certified through an exam based on the
INCOSE SE Handbook
• INCOSE membership is required ($145/Year)
• Renewal every 3 years through ongoing professional
development
• Available since 2004
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process 25
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
1. Verifiable
Education
2. Verifiable Submit
Experience
3. Applicant’s
Application
Advocates (three And Fee
references knowledgeable
about SE) $200
Application
Development
INCOSE
Senior Level
Expert Systems Engineering
Professional
• Targeted towards senior Systems Engineering leaders with
recognized systems accomplishments, who have many years of
Systems Engineering work experience
• ESEPs are certified against substantiated professional leadership,
systems engineering accomplishments, experience, and education
requirements
• At least 10 years of experience must be substantiated by 3-5 work-
related references
• Interviews used to validate leadership and significant systems
accomplishments
• ESEPs must be, and remain, INCOSE members
• No renewal requirements other than INCOSE membership
• Available since 2010
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process 28
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
Timeline
Certification Education
Requirements
• Technical Bachelor’s Degree (or international
equivalent)
– Acceptable engineering fields of study include: aeronautics,
biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical,
environmental, mechanical, nuclear, software, systems
– Acceptable other fields of study include: chemistry, computer
science, mathematics, physics
– If the Bachelor’s degree does not come from the above
fields, then a Masters or Doctorate degree (or international
equivalent) in those fields is acceptable
– INCOSE is the final authority on degree applicability
SE Disciplines/Functional Areas
Qualifying for SE Experience (1 of 2)
Attachment A - Experience Applicable for Certification
• Requirements Engineering: Preparing for or managing a Business or Mission analysis; Defining a Problem or
opportunity space; Characterizing a solution space; Evaluating alternative solution classes; Preparing for
Stakeholder Needs & Requirements Definition; Defining stakeholder needs; Developing Operational Concept
and other Life Cycle concepts; Transforming needs into stakeholder requirements; Analyzing Stakeholder
Requirements; Managing Stakeholder needs and requirements definition; Preparing for System Requirements
Definition; Defining System Requirements; Analyzing System Requirements; Managing System Requirements.
• System and Decision Analysis: Preparing, performing and managing a system analysis; Decision
Management, including Preparing for System Engineering Decisions; Analyzing decision information; Making
and managing SE decisions.
• Architecture/ Design Development: Preparing for architecture definition; Developing architecture viewpoints;
Developing models and views of candidate architectures; Relating architecture to design; Assessing candidate
architectures; Managing the selected architecture; Preparing for design definition; Assessing alternatives for
obtaining system elements; Establishing design characteristics and design enablers; Managing a system
design;
• Systems Integration: Preparing, performing and managing system element implementation; Identifying,
agreeing and managing system-level interfaces; Preparing and performing Integration; Managing integration
results.
• Verification and Validation: Preparing and performing Verification; Managing verification results; Preparing
and performing Validation; Managing Validation results; Preparing for, and performing System Transition;
Managing results of System Transition; Obtaining Qualification, Certification and Acceptance.
• System Operation and Maintenance: Preparing for Operation; Managing results of Operation; Performing and
supporting System/ Product Operation; Preparing for and performing Maintenance; Performing Logistics
Support; Managing results of maintenance and logistics; Preparing for, performing and finalizing system
disposal. 36
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
SE Disciplines/Functional Areas
Qualifying for SE Experience (2 of 2)
Attachment A - Experience Applicable for Certification
• Technical Planning: Defining an SE project; Planning an SE project and its technical management; Activating an
SE project; Identifying and recording tailoring influences and mandated structures; Obtaining input from parties
affected by the tailoring strategy; Making Tailoring decisions and selecting life cycle processes.
• Technical Monitoring and Control: Planning for SE project assessment and control; Assessing SE projects;
Controlling projects from an SE perspective; Preparing for and performing System Measurement; Preparing for
system Quality Assurance; Performing system product or service evaluations;
• Acquisition and Supply: Acquisition, including: Preparing for system/element acquisition; Advertising the
acquisition and selecting the supplier; Establishing, maintaining and monitoring an acquisition agreement;
Accepting a product or service from a supplier; Supply, including: Preparing for supply; Responding to a tender;
Establishing, maintaining and executing a supply agreement; Delivering and supporting a product or service.
• Planning Information and CM: CM; Performing Configuration Identification; Performing Configuration Change
Management; Performing Configuration Status Accounting; Performing Configuration Evaluation; Performing
Release Control; Information Management, including Preparing for and performing information management
• Risk and Opportunity Management: Planning technical risk and opportunity management; Managing the
technical risk profile; Analyzing, Treating and Monitoring technical risks and opportunities
• Lifecycle Process Definition and Management: Establishing Lifecycle Processes including defining and
implementing Lifecycle Models; Assessing Lifecycle Processes and Models; Improving Lifecycle Processes and
Models.
• Specialty Engineering: Performing professional-level systems engineering activities associated with one or more
Specialty Engineering area(s).
• Organizational Project Enabling Activities: Infrastructure Management, including establishing and maintaining
the Infrastructure; HR Management; Quality Management; Knowledge Management; Project Portfolio
Management at Organizational level.
• Other: Other functions and activities performed that you can justify as Systems Engineering activities.
Distribution of Systems
Engineering Experience for CSEP
• The CSEP candidate must have at least 1 year of SE experience in
each of 3 or more of the 15 systems engineering functional areas
CSEPs should
have
experience in
performing
some, but not
all, SE areas
The Application
• Instruction Letter to
References
• Certification
Reference
Endorsement
Form
Suggestions
• E-Mail prospective references – At least 5
– All your references be SEs or at least someone
able to “describe their knowledge of Systems
Engineering that qualifies them to serve as
references.”
– Confirm their interest
– Explain that they will need to describe their
number of years and types of systems
engineering experience they have had.
• Not just their Job Titles but they need to
explain what work they performed within the 15
Systems Engineering Experience Areas.
E-mails
Dear so and so,
Thanks for the consideration. Just let me know if you can or can’t.
If you can, I need the “reference’s information” (mailing address,
title, etc) so I can fill out the application. Don’t fill out the
forms until I send them to you again.
Let me know,
Experience to Matrix
• Read and understand the 15 SE Work Areas or Functions or Roles
outlined in Attachment A - Experience Applicable for
Certification in the INCOSE Application Instructions.
– Even if you feel you were not doing Systems Engineering at the
time, it may still count if it falls into one of these 15 SE Work
Areas.
• Take each of your Work Experiences and break them up into these
SE Functions.
– Use the language provided in the descriptions of the SE
Functions in Attachment A when describing your experience.
• Estimate the amount of time, in months, you spend doing each SE
Function.
– If you find that during your assignments or positions you were
doing more than one SE Function, then figure out a percentage
of time you spent on each function
Experience to Matrix
Notice the form will calculate
the Total Numbers of Months.
The bottom cell of P1 in matrix
cannot exceed this.
Experience to Matrix
Under P1 in
Matrix
• The form
transferred the
months I
worked in
Section 5:
Experience
Experience to Matrix
Total Months of
Effort in Matrix
• The key is to
ensure you
have 12 months
or more of SE
experience in
each of 3 or
more of the 15
systems
engineering
functional areas
• (I could have stopped
after P4)
• Which three of the following are • Which are three justifications for
methods to express functional CM? (Choose three)
behavior? (Choose three)
A. facilitates communication
A. Network Tree (NT)
B. forces change evaluations
B. Behavior Diagram (BD) C. prevents requirements
C. Allocated Requirement changes
Diagram (ARD)
D. controls requirements
E. Functional Flow Block changes
Diagram (FFBD) E. encourages requirements
F. Integrated Definition for changes
Functional Modeling (IDEF) Note: These questions ARE NOT from the INCOSE
Diagram Certification Exam. The format and content are similar
(based on SEH v2A). They were created by CSM and
Prometric to show question structure.
• Sample Questions
from INCOSE
– https://www.incose.org/docs/defa
ult-source/certification/sample-
questions.pdf
• Performed poorly in
the 2014 beta exams.
• Representative of the
format and content on
the actual exam
• Assist in
understanding how
the INCOSE exam is
structured.
Understanding the INCOSE Certification Process 52
Copyright © 2018 by SE Scholar, LCC (except were noted)
INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) Exam Preparation Course
• Suggest getting a
spiral bound
double sided
copy made at
Office Depot or
Staples (~ $30)
RECORDED CLASSES
www.se-scholar.com
• If you are a practicing Systems Engineer with more than five years
of systems engineering professional work experience
Certification Renewal
Requirements
• Certification is Valid for
– 3 Years for CSEP and must maintain INCOSE membership
– 5 Years for ASEP and must maintain INCOSE membership
– Indefinite for ESEP, but must maintain INCOSE membership
• Certification renewal requires
– Minimum of 120 Professional Development Units (PDUs)
– Renewal application
– Continuing education log submittal
– Must be submitted before current certification period ends
– Up to 30 “excess” PDUs can be “carried forward”
(all must be relevant to the practice of systems engineering) (Proof of all activities required if audited)
By the Way
• A lot of information in this brief came from
an INCOSE Overview Brief
Any Questions?