An integrated task management system to reduce semantic conflicts in multi-user computer-aided design

Simultaneous multi-user computer-aided design enables teams of designers to contribute simultaneously to the same model. As multiple users make contributions to the model, all users see additions from all other collaborators in real-time. However, without careful coordination, conflicts that violate the design intent of the model may occur. These are referred to as semantic conflicts and lead to redundant work by users. This article presents a method to reduce semantic conflicts through a task management system integrated directly into multi-user computer-aided design. Experiments were run that compare multi-user teams’ design modeling times with and without the integrated task management system. The results of these experiments show that the integrated task management system significantly reduces the time to complete design models by reducing semantic conflicts through enhanced organization and communication.