From Fragmentation to Federation: A Proposed Strategy for Advancing Digital Engineering Standards Development

The future of systems engineering depends on solving a pressing challenge: the fragmentation of data and models across engineering tools, enterprise systems, and lifecycle processes. While existing standards from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Object Management Group (OMG), and other standard development organizations (SDOs) address specific domains and data exchange formats, no comprehensive framework exists to guide digital engineering (DE) across the full ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 system lifecycle process—from technical and management processes to enabling and agreement activities. This disconnect limits organizations' ability to integrate, scale, and deliver consistent value across increasingly complex ecosystems.

This article examines the current gaps in interoperability standardization efforts and outlines opportunities for the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) to shape the future of digital transformation. It introduces the INCOSE agile systems engineering life cycle management (ASELCM) pattern as a foundation for aligning lifecycle processes with model-based technical exchanges through a federated digital thread. The authors call for INCOSE to adopt a strategic standardization role—working with other SDOs to define interoperability use cases, align lifecycle models, and model-based systems engineering (MBSE) standards, and develop a shared reference framework for interoperability. This collaboration is essential for enabling seamless, cross-enterprise interoperability—and for empowering organizations to realize the speed, scale, and economic advantage promised by digital transformation.