Data base management technology can improve the quality and reduce the cost of temporary works design. This is achieved by allowing the computer to handle the tedium of translating and transmitting data between programs and allowing the designers to concentrate on the quality of the underlying design. This paper lays the foundation for the use of microcomputer data base management technology in temporary works design, using formwork design as the problem base. It concentrates on the development of a data base management system called dBFICADS. It has been used to support the data‐handling requirements of an integrated computer‐aided design system for form‐work Key issues regarding information modeling, DBMS implementation, and the interface between the DBMS and application programs are addr