Core information categories for engineering design - contrasting empirical studies with a review of integrated models

Abstract

The delivery of products and services or capabilities over long product life-cycles requires extended support of engineering and management tasks by knowledge and information management. Integrated models, which capture information about product, process and rationale, have been developed and proposed in the literature to support the different product life-cycle phases as well as the reuse of components, modification and update of products. Information needs, which have been identified in previous engineering studies, are contrasted with the elements from integrated models. A systematic literature search identified models that are briefly described and their elements are contrasted with a schema of information needs derived from engineering research. The analysis identifies a lack of consensus (at basic syntactic and semantic levels) among the models and significant disparities in their coverage of the needs. Detailed examination of the models also reveals varied granularity in terms of number of model elements utilised to describe specific needs. Based on the findings, information categories are classified into a core set for future integrated models and additional candidate and related information needs. The benefits beyond modelling are also discussed.