CHAPTER Systems Engineering Overview 1 The Object Management Group's OMG SysMLÔ [1] is a general-purpose graphical modeling language for representing systems that may include combinations of hardware, software, data, people, facilities, and natural objects. SysML supports the practice of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) that is used to develop system solutions in response to complex and often technologically challenging problems. This chapter introduces the systems engineering approach independent of modeling concepts to set the context for how SysML is used. It describes the motivation for systems engineering, introduces the systems engineering process, and then describes a simplified automobile design example to highlight how complexity is addressed by the process. This chapter also summarizes the role of standards, such as SysML, to help codify the practice of systems engineering. The next three chapters in Part I introduce model-based systems engineering, and provide an overview of SysML, and a partial SysML model of the automobile design example introduced in this chapter.