What is the Model-Based Capabilities Assessment (MBCA) for?
The Model-Based Capabilities Assessment tool (“tool”) is for organizations to assess their model-based capabilities by noting the current and desired stage of modeling. This information is useful to plan model-based capability evaluation through roadmaps and projects. Users of this assessment have noted that it is comprehensive, identifies capabilities that may be missed, characterizes capability evolution to assist planning, is helpful in identifying how much model capability is enough, and provides an excellent tool to communicate across roles; Technical management, system engineer, information technologist, functional specialist, modelers, and contracts.
What Type of Organizations should consider Conducting a Self-Assessment?
Any organizations interested in self-assessment may benefit; government, commercial, non-profit, academic, international. The Assessment instrument can be applied to various organization sizes: enterprise/business unit, program/product line, and project/product.
Can an Organization Conduct more than one Capabilities Assessment?
Yes. An organizational POC may assess more than one organization. For example, it may be useful to conduct the assessment for the enterprise/business unit level and then conduct assessments for each of the underlying programs/product lines.
Who Conducts the Model-Based Capabilities Assessment (MBCA)?
An organizational POC establishes a login and enters the information.
What is the Assessment Output?
The organizational POC will be emailed the data entered as part of a Model-Based Capabilities Assessment Report, with two editable Excel files that characterize the organization’s model-based capabilities and assessment notes in two different views. The assessment input allows the user to mark the output report with a “Sensitive, but Unclassified” label of their choice.
Is the Assessment Free?
Yes. The tool is free to use and the data entered is confidential only available to the organizational POC that entered it and The Aerospace Corporation. The Aerospace Corporation, a California corporation running a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, is hosting this site and co-led the creation of the assessment tool for INCOSE. Please see Aerospace.org for more information about the corporation.
How Long Does the Assessment Take?
The assessment may take a few hours to complete depending on how much free text information is input. The assessment information may be input or updated over a few sessions.
How is Information Protected?
All information should be unclassified, and all entered information is confidential. It is protected by The Aerospace Corporation and not shared. The Aerospace Corporation may make non-attributable, cross-project summary data available to provide benchmarks.
Assessment Tool origin.
The on-line assessment was developed by Al Hoheb, The Aerospace Corporation. He developed the Excel based version with Joe Hale, NASA/MSFC as Challenge Team leads for the International Society of System Engineers (INCOSE) between 2018 and 2020. The assessment tool was refined by a sequence of workshops and peer reviews leading to INCOSE published in January 2020.
INCOSE members may download the Excel version of the matrix tool and the associated users guide from the INCOSE.org site.