This paper describes epee, a distributed environment for the integrati
on of software applications. It was developed with the aim of aiding t
he process of design by providing the necessary support for a design i
nformation management system. The software environment is first descri
bed in general terms and then our specific application of epee to proc
ess engineering design is presented. epee uses an object-oriented appr
oach to data management. Data are represented as objects whose definit
ions, via templates, reflect the process engineering design environmen
t. The use of focussed methods promotes a consistent look and feel to
the tools in the environment. Method reuse reduces software developmen
t costs and increases users' confidence in the reliability of the meth
ods. The benefits of the history recording mechanism in epee and its o
bject publishing facilities are described. A history record is a criti
cal component of a high level design management system. This, together
with the sharing of data through object publishing, provides the nece
ssary support for collaborative design. The application of epee to pro
cess engineering design illustrates the benefits of object-oriented te
chniques to the process systems and design community. The inherent ext
ensibility of object definitions facilitates the application of the su
pport system to any area of design. The dynamic nature of object defin
itions in epee encourages exploration and experimentation with new dat
a types and methods. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd