Towards PDM extension to support the exchange of preliminary information in design

The earlier designing process of technical artefacts requires collaborative activities among various disciplines. The organisation requires the actors to exchange the preliminary information, which is non-mature. Designers often make decisions relying on the information that is invalid and not finalised. Current computing systems, particularly those that are intended to manage the technical data Engineering Data Management System (EDMS), such as Product Data Management (PDM) are hard to conciliate with the dynamic and the evolutionary aspects of the design data. Design data are partially integrated in PDM and represent consolidated and valid states. This article is based on a qualitative study of the engineering projects. The framework proposed in this article represents preliminary information management models. They are based on the maturity of information and workspace concepts. The present model-based framework reports only the two workspaces, among four that correspond with the management of preliminary information. We argue that such management supports designers in their day-to-day collaboration and allows them to exchange preliminary information.