DesignSpace: A Tool for Collaborative Engineering in Model-Driven Development

Abstract

We contribute a solution to the Model Management (MoM) Challenge 2026 (available at doi: 10.5281/zenodo.19608752) using the DesignSpace framework. DesignSpace provides a common operation-based model management infrastructure that supports collaborative engineering, consistency management, traceability, and version control across heterogeneous modelling tools. To address the challenge, the Parts Catalogue and Bill of Materials artefacts are imported into the DesignSpace meta-metamodel through dedicated import/export transformations, enabling all model management services to operate on a unified internal representation while preserving compatibility with the original artefacts. Within this representation, consistency constraints and derived properties are implemented using the DesignSpace RuleService, which incrementally evaluates rules and automatically propagates derived values as models evolve. Model evolution is recorded by an Operation Tree that captures fine-grained changes, supports collaborative workspaces, conflict detection and resolution, and provides complete version histories. A lightweight demonstration application illustrates these capabilities by visualising consistency violations, collaborative changes, and version histories independently of the original engineering tools. Our evaluation shows that the operation-based architecture of DesignSpace naturally addresses most of the challenge requirements related to change propagation, querying and validation, concurrent modifications, and version management. The challenge also highlights current limitations, most notably the lack of dedicated view management, which we identify as an important direction for future work.