Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) models are often used during product design. Various interactions between the different models must be managed for the designed system to be robust and in accordance with defined specifications. Numerous research works exist considering the link between digital mock-up and analysis models. However design/analysis integration must take into consideration the evolution throughout time numerous mock-up and simulation models, as well as considering system engineering. To effectively manage engineering changes on the system, the dependencies between the different models must be known and the nature of the modification must be characterized to estimate the impact of the modification throughout the dependent models. We propose a metric to take into account the impact of the lack of knowledge in decision making during preliminary collaborative design. To achieve this, a presentation of the complexity of design/analysis link and the need of data qualification are realized.
