Accelerate MBSE with the STRATA Methodology

STRATA Implementation: A Structured Approach to MBSE

STRATA organizes system modeling into a structured grid that combines two dimensions: perspectives (pillars) and levels of abstraction (layers). This grid defines modeling activities and artifacts within intersecting cells, allowing engineers to build models that are both comprehensive and scalable.

• The Pillars (Perspectives): STRATA aligns key system views—Requirements, Functional Architecture & Behavior, Structural Architecture, and Verification & Validation—within each layer. These perspectives reflect how requirements drive behavior, behavior maps to structure, and requirements are verified and validated. Additional pillars such as Program Management (e.g., WBS, risks, responsibilities) and Specialty Engineering (e.g., FMEA) extend the methodology to cover broader engineering concerns.
• The Layers (Levels of Detail): Each row in the STRATA grid represents a deeper level of system detail:
  • Layer-0 models the system context—external interactions, originating requirements, and environmental conditions.
  • Layer-1 describes the system as a whole—refining requirements, integrating behavior, and initiating physical decomposition.
  • Layer-2 and beyond focus on subsystems—further refining requirements, decomposing behavior, and allocating functions to physical components.

This layered approach supports progressive elaboration, enabling engineers to trace design decisions across perspectives and abstraction levels. While STRATA can be explained top-down for clarity, in practice, modeling can begin from any cell—depending on available information. Whether starting with high-level requirements, existing physical components, or behavioral insights, STRATA provides a flexible yet disciplined framework for building complete, consistent, and validated system models.

Using STRATA in GENESYS with CSDL

The STRATA modeling methodology is optimized for GENESYS software, which is powered by the Comprehensive Systems Design Language (CSDL)—a modeling language built on the ERA model (Entities, Relationships, Attributes). CSDL unifies systems engineering concepts across domains, enabling intuitive yet semantically precise modeling. When combined with STRATA, CSDL’s relational structure allows seamless traversal between abstraction layers (rows) and systems engineering perspectives (pillars), reinforcing traceability, consistency, and completeness.

Implementing STRATA in GENESYS involves configuring the model to reflect your organization’s strategic layers and engineering pillars:

• Define Layers: Add a custom “layer” attribute to all entities and define layer names and designators using the Defined Term This creates a shared vocabulary for abstraction levels.
• Configure Packages and Folders: Organize model content by creating packages for each layer and optional subpackages for each pillar. Use folders to structure entities by layer within each major class.
• Use STRATA Pillar Facilities: Filter the Project Explorer to focus on relevant classes for each pillar, streamlining work within specific engineering perspectives.
• Build Consistency and Allocation Tables: Create metachain-based tables and matrices to visualize relationships across layers and pillars, helping identify gaps, orphan entities, and misallocations.
• Apply Visual Templates: Use STRATA Layer node templates in diagrams to clearly display layer designators and validate correct entity placement.
• Automate Organization: Run the STRATA Organization script to automatically sort entities into their designated layer-based folders and packages.

GENESYS also provides a rich set of purpose-built diagrams—such as Requirements, Use Case, Activity, and Sequence—that serve as effective STRATA artifacts, supporting both clarity and precision in model communication.