Designers increasingly leverage autonomous software tools that make decisions independent of the designer. Examples abound in virtually every design field. For example, semiconductor chip designers use tools that make decisions about placement and logic checking. Game designers rely on software that generates initial drafts of virtual worlds. Autonomous tools employ artificial intelligence methods, including machine learning, pattern recognition, meta-heuristics, and evolutionary algorithms to generate design artifacts beyond any human's capabilities. A naïve view suggests these tools will someday replace human designers in the design process. An alternative perspective is that humans will continue to play an important role but also that this role is changing.

When designing a complex system, adhering to a design methodology is essential to ensure design quality and to shorten the design phase. Until recently, enforcing this could be done only partially or manually. This paper demonstrates how constraint programming technology can enable automation of the design methodology support when the design artifacts reside in a central repository. At any phase of the design, the proposed constraint programming application can indicate whether the design process data complies with the methodology and point out any violations that may exist. Moreover, the application can provide recommendations regarding the design process. The application was successfully used to check the methodology conformance of an industrial example and produced the desired outputs within reasonable times.