Tracking product specification dependencies in collaborative design for conflict management

The main difficulty associated with a collaborative design process is understanding the product data exchanged during the design. Efficient and effective coordination of design activities relies on a thorough understanding of the dependencies between shared product specifications throughout the entire development cycle. This paper explores the linkages between the design process features and product specification dependencies, and suggests ways of identifying and managing specification dependencies to improve collaborative process performance. Using a UML (Unified Modeling Language) specification, we propose a process traceability tool to track the design process in an ongoing manner. Based on the information captured, the dependencies between specifications involved in the tracked process are identified and inserted in a dependency network, which is maintained throughout the design process. A set of mechanisms is then proposed to qualify the identified dependencies. Extracting and qualifying specification dependencies could be useful in many design situations; for example, during an engineering change management process to assess impacts and study change feasibility, or during a conflict management process to assist designers in resolving conflicts and maintaining the coherence of the design process (knowing that change management is a tool to conduct conflict management). Special attention is paid to the conflict management process. By means of a case study, we show how the solution we propose can assist designers during the conflict management process.