Model‐based standards authoring: ISO 15288 as a case in point

Abstract

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015 is one of the most fundamental systems engineering international standards. In this work, the major system lifecycle processes specified in 15288 and, equally importantly, the objects interacting through them, are modeled meticulously using OPM ISO 19450. The conceptual model, based on this standard's text, reflects the implied authors’ intent, bringing up ambiguities that arise from the informality of natural language text and reference to related figures. The resulting OPM model is an exact, formal, and detailed expression of the processes and related objects in the first part of 15288, making it machine interpretable. The gaps discovered during the modeling process are testimony to the value of the model‐based standards authoring approach and the centrality of a formal yet humanly accessible model as the underlying backbone of international standards and key technical documents in general.