In principle, the primary companies each send an expert to work at the Center, but in practice it has been easier to get money than to get people. The secondary companies can have access to the Center's output only. The Center's activities are twofold. First to engage in international cooperation for standardization in product description activities. Second, to perform data exchange experiments and develop a prototype STEP Processor, described below.
Input consists of three parts.
A description of a specific CAD data model. A description of the STEP data model. This eventually will be a complete and faithful formal description of the entire STEP model. The Center's policy is to create an exact implementation of STEP Version 1.0. The complete STEP data model is large, as it needs to deal with aspects of engineering design in diverse fields including, electronics, construction, shipbuilding, architecture, etc.