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Abstract. This paper gives an overview and introduction to the area of standards and standardization with the intent of providing a basic understanding useful to people involved in systems engineering.

The anatomy of the engineering of a system relies on a uniform approach using an elemental "building block" approach.This approach is applicable at any layer in a system development, whether it be the total system solution, a supplier's sub-system, or a component provided to a supplier. There are four elements of this fundamental building block: (1) the system, (2) the end product, (3) end product subsystems, and (4) the enabling subsystems. This building block approach was introduced in IEEE 1220-1994 "Application and Management of the Systems Engineering Process," and will be a central theme of the evolving EIA/ANSI Standard for applying the systems engineering process to the engineering of a system.

more effective and trustworthy practice of systems engineering.So, is there an intellectual basis for systems engineering? Yes, I firmly and strongly believe that there is, and this set of thoughts has attempted to identify the many facets of this intellectual basis. One might also ask, if this is the case, why is there so often a lack of respect for systems engineering-related efforts, especially in academic circles? A related question concerns the place for systems engineering in the academic environment. The answers to these questions, I believe, are also contained in these comments. It is that systems engineering is essentially a transdisciplinary and transinstitutional endeavor. It is strongly focused on knowledge integration. Most of academia, however, is highly disciplinary in nature and focused on knowledge differentiation. Both are needed for success in the contemporary world, and it is time for this to be recognized by disciplinarians and transdisciplinarians and institutionalists and transinstututionalists, alike.

Within the technical disciplines, there has been a renewed interest in standards, especially in the commercial sector, over the past few years. With respect to systems engineering, this has been evidenced by the generation of two complementary standards, EIA 632 Processes for Engineering a System and EIA/IS 731 Systems Engineering Capability, both of which were prepared with the joint participation of the EIA and INCOSE. This paper provides an overview of the various types, or categories, of standards with the intent of providing a basic understanding of standards and their use, which have often been misunderstood. Some examples of the use of standards are provided from both the past and present. The paper concentrates specifically on those aspects of standards of importance to systems engineering. Directions proposed by the INCOSE Standards Task Force for INCOSE to pursue in the future with respect to standards are then explored. The paper concludes with a glossary of standards making organizations of interest to systems engineering.