A model of the work - situation in order to improve traceability process in collaborative design

The collective character of design activities requires the development of methods and tools in order to control the design process and the collaborative activities. The workgroup is assimilated to a system composed of entities, which are in various interactions managed by a set of coordination and control mechanisms. We present here a model of the design situation in collaborative works using the notion of inter-related entities. We also propose a classification of the different interactions between these entities. The perspectives of this work are to contribute to the improvement of support tools for the collaborative design situation and knowledge capitalization.