Skip to main content

Capabilities in Systems Engineering: An Overview

  • Conference paper
Exploring Services Science (IESS 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 143))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The concept of capability has been deemed relevant over the years, which can be attested by its adoption in varied domains. It is an abstract concept, but simple to understand by business stakeholders and yet capable of making the bridge to technical aspects. Capabilities seem to bear similarities with services, namely their low coupling and high cohesion. However, the concepts are different since the concept of service seems to rest between that of capability and those directly related to the implementation. Nonetheless, the articulation of the concept of capability with the concept of service can be used to promote business/IT alignment, since both concepts can be used to bridge different conceptual layers of an enterprise architecture. This work offers an overview of the different uses of this concept, its usefulness, and its relation to the concept of service.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Electronic Industries Alliance. EIA-731.1 - Systems Engineering Capability Model. Number EIA-731.1. Government Electronics and Information Technology Association

    Google Scholar 

  2. Barney, J.: Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17, 99–120 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bate, R., Garcia, S., Armitage, C., Cusick, K., Jones, R., Kuhn, D., Minnich, I., Pierson, H., Powell, T., Reichner, A., Wells, C.: A systens engineering capability maturity model, version 1.0. Technical Report CMU/SEI-94-HB-04, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bernier, F., Couture, M., Dussault, G., Lalancette, C., Lemieux, F., Lizotte, M., Mokhtari, M., Lam, S.: CapDEM - towards a capability engineering process, a discussion paper. Technical Report TR 2004-230, Defence R&D Canada - Valcartier (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Chandler, A.D.: Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Harvard University Press (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  6. CMMI Product Team. CMMI for acquisition, version 1.3. Technical Report CMU/SEI-2010-TR-032, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  7. CMMI Product Team. CMMI for development, version 1.3. Technical Report CMU/SEI-2010-TR-033, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. CMMI Product Team. CMMI for services, version 1.3. Technical Report CMU/SEI-2010-TR-034, Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Dosi, G., Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G.: The Nature and Dynamics of Organizational Capabilities. Oxford University Press (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Eisenhardt, K.M., Martin, J.A.: Dynamic capabilities: What are they? Strat. Mgmt. J. 21, 1105–1121 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Helfat, C.E., Peteraf, M.A.: The dynamic resource-based view: Capability lifecycles. Strat. Mgmt. J. 24, 997–1010 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Humphrey, W.S.: Characterizing the software process: A maturity framework. Technical Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-11, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Humphrey, W.S., Sweet, W.L., Edwards, R.K., LaCroix, G.R., Owens, M.F., Schulz, H.: A method for assessing the software engineering capability of contractors. Technical Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-23, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  14. ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 12207 - Systems and software engineering - Software life cycle processes. International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  15. ISO/IEC/IEEE. ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765 - Systems and software engineering - Vocabulary. International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lê, L.-S., Ghose, A., Morrison, E.: Definition of a Description Language for Business Service Decomposition. In: Morin, J.-H., Ralyté, J., Snene, M. (eds.) IESS 2010. LNBIP, vol. 53, pp. 96–110. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Magalhães, R., Silva, A.R.: Organizational design and engineering (ode). Technical report, INOV Centre for Organizational Design and Engineering, CODE (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Meilich, A.: System of systems (SoS) engineering & architecture challenges in a net centric environment. In: Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE/SMC International Conference on System of Systems Engineering (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Neaga, E.I., Henshaw, M., Yue, Y.: The influence of the concept of capability-based management on the development of the systems engineering discipline. In: Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research 2009, CSER 2009 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G.: Toward an evolutionary theory of economic capabilities. The American Economic Review 63, 440–449 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G.: An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Harvard University Press (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  23. OMG. Service Oriented Architecture Modeling Language (SoaML) - Specification for the UML Profile and Metamodel for Services (UPMS). Number ptc/2009-12-09. Object Management Group, OMG Adopted Specification, Finalisation Task Force Beta 2 Document Edition (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Pagotto, J., Walker, R.S.: Capability engineering - transforming defence acquisition in canada. In: Proceedings of SPIE (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Paulk, M.C., Curtis, B., Chrissis, M.B., Averill, E.L., Bamberger, J., Kasse, T.C., Konrad, M., Perdue, J.R., Weber, C.V., Withey, J.V.: Capability maturity model for software. Technical Report CMU/SEI-91-TR-24, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Paulk, M.C., Curtis, B., Chrissis, M.B., Weber, C.V.: Capability maturity model for software, version 1.1. Technical Report CMU/SEI-93-TR-024, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Penrose, E.: The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. Wiley (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Penserini, L., Perini, A., Susi, A., Mylopoulos, J.: High variability design for software agents: Extending tropos. ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems 2(4) (November 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ravichandar, R., Arthur, J.D., Bohner, S.A., Tegarden, D.P.: Improving change tolerance through capabilities-based design: an empirical analysis. Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice 20, 135–170 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Richardson, G.B.: The organisation of industry. Economic Journal 82, 883–896 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. SE Handbook Working Group. Systems engineering handbook: A guide for system life cycle processes and activities. Technical Report INCOSE-TP-2003-002-03.2, International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) (January 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Sousa, P., Caetano, A., Vasconcelos, A., Pereira, C., Tribolet, J.: Enterprise architecture modeling with the unified modeling language. In: Enterprise Modeling and Computing with UML. IRM Press (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Teece, D., Pisano, G.: The dynamic capabilities of firms: An introduction. Working paper WP-94-103, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Teece, D.J., Pisano, G., Shuen, A.: Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal 18, 509–533 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. The Open Group. TOGAF version 9.1. Van Haren Publishing (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  36. U.K. Ministry of Defence. MOD Architecture Framework, Version 1.2.004 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  37. U.S. Department of Defense. Joint Publication 1-02: Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  38. U.S. Department of Defense. DoD Architecture Framework, Version 2.02 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Waite, M., Hawker, S.: Oxford Paperback Dictionary and Thesaurus. Oxford University Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Winter, S.G.: Developing evolutionary theory for economics and management. Working Paper WP 2005-01, Reginald H. Jones Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2005)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Antunes, G., Borbinha, J. (2013). Capabilities in Systems Engineering: An Overview. In: Falcão e Cunha, J., Snene, M., Nóvoa, H. (eds) Exploring Services Science. IESS 2013. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 143. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36356-6_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36356-6_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36355-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36356-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics