Crossroads of America Chapter of INCOSE

Meeting Minutes

January 17, 2002 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. EST

 

Attendees: 

Tom Rarick, Dan Surber, Vern Smith, Jeff Harper, Bill Austin, Bill Schindel, Barbara Falls, Gary Feutz

 

Meeting Objectives:

·        Review last meeting minutes

·        Report on progress since last meeting

·        Discussion on SIGs and owners

·        Discuss Upcoming Meeting Plans

·        Action item discussion

·        Set next meetings

 

Meeting Outcome:

·        Meeting minutes were reviewed and approved

·        Report on progress since our last (conference call) meeting.  Reports were provided on the web site and various SIG activities. 

·        Had a very involved SIG discussion, see below for details

·        Action items will be discussed in our upcoming face-to-face meeting.

·        Face-to-face meeting planned: January 26, in Lafayette; meeting from 10 am – 3 pm.  Meeting site to be arranged by Jeff Harper but will likely be Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN..

 

Meeting Details:

·        Review of 1/09/02 Minutes

o       Minutes were reviewed with no corrections noted and are considered approved.

·        Progress Made Since Last Meeting

o       Tom Kennedy, Lauren Toffolo and Gary Feutz have agreed to help support the chapter development.  Tom and Lauren volunteered to help with the “chapter community” SIG.  This should also help communications chairman responsibilities.  This partners Tom in Chicago and Lauren in Terre Haute which should help build the chapter community more broadly across geographic boundaries. Gary will be helping initiate the ‘tools’ SIG. 

o       Web site is under construction and will be available to the core team for review and provide feedback. 

§         One issue that has arisen is confusion over Interest Groups, Programs of Activity, and Discussion Groups   One suggestion was that we need to think of an alternative name to Special Interest Group.  There appear to be 3 subject areas: Interest Groups, Programs of Activity, and Discussion Groups.  It appeared to be clear that interests and discussions should be coordinated thru a SIG.  Program activities should be coordinated thru the Program Chairpersons. Tom Rarick will address this in his white paper for Chapter Organizations and Programs.

§         Also, discussed the need for an organizational chart on the site.

o       Progress is being made on the SIGs, i.e. new owners identified, white papers being generated.

o       Still recruiting for the advisory board.

·        SIG Plans and Owners

Most SIG owners are named, but this and SIG criteria and guidelines need to be discussed further.  Agreed that discussion is to happen in the website SIG area.

An updated listing of the SIGs and owners is shown below with additional details reported or suggestions from today’s meeting..

o       EDUCATION/PROFFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT – Stephen Kuehl, Larry Weaver(tentative)

o       BUSINESS, ECONOMIC AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT LINKS TO SYSTEMS ENGINEERING – Bill Austin

Jeff Harper has offered to provide feedback to a white paper and generate academic involvement.

o       SYSTEMS ENGINEERING TOOLS – Gary Feutz

Plans to have a white paper for the face-to-face 1/26 Saturday meeting.

o       CHAPTER ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAMS – Tom Rarick

o       CHAPTER COMMUNITY:  OUR MEMBERS AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS – Tom Kennedy, Lauren Toffolo  (the supporting activity had been suggested as a good role for students.)

o       FOUNDATIONS OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING – Bill Schindel

Has a white paper almost drafted and will post on the new SIG discussion thread.

o       COMPARATIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING STANDARDS – Open

o       (A good role for someone who has significant practitioner experience with standards in general and at least a subset of the standards applicable here. Someone from the Mil/Aero area could be a good fit)

o       NEW DEVELOPMENTS/TRENDS/CHALLENGES IN SYSTEMS ENGINEERING – (ICTT has interested people, no other recommendations from the team although Tom Rarick is interested in this subject)

o       THE REQUIREMENTS PROCESS – Bill Kline, Dave Voltmer(tentative)

o       SYSTEMS ENGINEERING METHODOLOGIES – (ICTT has interested people, no other recommendations from the team)

o       "ASK THE EXPERT" – Open, could possibly be rolled into one of the other groups.

Discussion as whether this could be an email conversation or take place on the discussion thread, or be able to do both.  For email implementation, could have biographies of people that have volunteered to be an expert with area of expertise listed.

o       STUDENTS AND THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY – Jeff Harper, supported by Dave Voltmer(tentative).

Jeff Harper has already submitted a white paper.  He will submit this to the SIG discussion thread for feedback.

Jeff recommends postponing student involvement until fall to give the chapter an opportunity to become more established and able to address the student needs.

Question raised: “Who is a student?”  Need to define.

o       MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – Dr. Dan Surber

Dan would like direction on what this SIG is supposed to do.

Will draft a white paper once direction has been provided.

Some of the issues that should be addressed:

·        Identify the current INCOSE members to discuss with them transferring their membership to Crossroads of America chapter.

·        Identify non-INCOSE members to discuss with them their interest in becoming a dues paying Crossroads of America INCOSE member.

·        Identify schools or corporations to contact for membership interest.

·        Identify geographic communities to pursue

o       WAYS AND MEANS – Barbara Falls supported by Robert Kenley(tentative), who is the chairman of the INCOSE International Ways and Means Committee

Some of the issues that should be addressed:

·        Need to detail a budget

·        Believe the chapter needs to incorporate

·        Need a checking account set up

·        Need to determine a mailing address for the chapter.

·        Upcoming Chapter Meetings

o       February Organizational Meeting

Discussion delayed until our face-to-face meeting when details must be resolved, especially location(s), date(s), and time.

o       April IEEE joint meeting

Bill Austin stated that the scope of this meeting should be reevaluated.  Suggested that this should be a meeting similar in nature to the informational meeting presentation and include a 30-45 minute SE presentation.  This meeting should be published to our membership as they may be interested in the SE presentation or IEEE, but INCOSE business would not be discussed at this meeting.  This meeting should be considered more of a membership growing opportunity.

o       May Student Meeting?

This may be premature if students don’t begin active participation until fall as was suggested earlier in the Students and the Academic Community SIG area.

o       June Rose-Hulman Ventures joint meeting

Discussion delayed until our face-to-face meeting

 

Meeting plans to be finalized during our face-to-face meeting, scheduled for January 26.

 

Action Item	Responsible	Due	Status
Discuss membership list with Bill Austin and Barb Falls	Dan Surber
Review Web Site and provide feedback	All	1/26/02
First draft of chapter budget	Barb Falls, Bill Austin	1/25/02
Set Organizational Meeting Location, Date, and Time	Core Team	1/26/02
Draft white paper or other definition of  SIG	Each SIG owner
Begin discussions in SIG using the web site	Each SIG owner as desired when website is available
Draft agenda for 1/26 meeting	Bill Austin	1/22/02