Challenges at Data Interfaces The interface gap affects both the interaction of humans and enterprise data systems with the model. The goal is to have a digital thread con - necting enterprise data and make it visible and easily accessible to the acquisition workforce. Human barrier. A critical inter - face is the connection between the user and the authoritative data. Ac - quisition programs are turning to digital engineering for managing the increasing complexity of our modern systems of systems. However, cur - rent SysML v1 modeling tools have complex interfaces that require sig - nificant training and experience to confidently extract data. The SysML v1.7 standard defines over 100 core ele - ments, each with semantic nuances that the workforce must understand to fully comprehend the model’s data. Systems researchers Michael Pierce and Bruce Cameron of Technology Strate- gic Partners describe this as “fighting complexity with complexity” as we attempt to manage the fundamental complexity of modern systems of sys - tems by introducing an equally com - plex set of modeling tools. Ultimately, powerful, authoritative system mod - els are often siloed and require signifi - cant training to access the data they produce. Current modeling tools and approaches do not cleanly or easily fit into our war-fighting acquisition workflow. Workforce pyramid. Warfighting Acquisition University (WarU) uses a three-tiered framework (Figure 1) to describe digital engineering skills in the acquisition workforce. At the top sit Modelers, highly skilled experts who can build and manage models at all stages. Modelers are in high demand but low density in the acquisition work - force and require extensive training and experience. The middle tier is the Data Owner. These individuals are re - sponsible for examining and revising specific data they own in the model. They do not need the full Modeler skillset, but they do need to effec -
systems engineering, and deliver ca - pability to the warfighter faster. This requires the DoW acquisition system to transition from document-centric workflows to a digital future in which authoritative data forms a digital thread readily accessible to the entire acquisition workforce. Typical of many systems engineer - ing issues, the weaknesses and gaps are at the interface between authori - tative data and acquisition workforce
users who need access to the data for their jobs—and at the interfaces be - tween enterprise data systems. How - ever, there is a new phase of evolu - tion on the horizon, presented by new developments in powerful AI and the newly released, data-friendly Systems Modeling Language version 2 (SysML v2), which provide a strong catalyst to launch a completely new paradigm of digital transformation in DoW ac - quisitions.
SEPTEMBER –OCTOBER 2026 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE 43
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