An effective method to analyse chronological information aspects in actual engineering processes

Offering effective computer support during the early stages of the engineering process is a longstanding problem. Research into actual engineering processes is an essential contribution to establishing objective criteria for effective tools. We propose to derive such criteria from observed engineering processes and to test these requirements experimentally. We describe the first series of observations that resulted in data, serving as a reference for subsequent experiments. The control design project was bidisciplinary (mechanical and electrical) and significantly involved conceptual decision making. The experiment focussed on information needs by the designer, information retrieval and information production. Preliminary analysis shows a steep distribution of the time delay between information request and the answer to the request, suggesting a strong influence of information access time on several aspects of the engineering process.