Standardized information modeling is important for interoperability of CAx systems. Existing information standards such as ISO 10303 STEP have been proposed and developed for decades for this purpose. Comprehensive data structure and various implementation methodologies make such standards strong in support of different industry domains, information types, and technical requirements. However, this fact also leads to increased implementation complexity and workloads for CAx system developers.

This licentiate proposes the development architecture, STEP Toolbox, to help users implement standards with a simplified development process and minimal knowledge requirements on standards. Implementation difficulties for individuals are identified with analysis on implementation of the information standards in three aspects: tasks, users, and technology. Then the toolbox is introduced with an illustration of design of behavior and structure. Case studies are performed to validate the toolbox with prototypes. Internal and external observation has shown the around two-month learning process skipped and a great amount of workload reduction in implementation with the utilization of this architecture.