Information sharing is critical to any design team. The availability of design information, such as component databases, memos and correspondence, CAD models and simulation results, all accessible through a computer network, drives the design process. However, accessibility does not necessarily connote useability. To bring information sharing into the service of supporting design requires integration. We describe a framework for managing CAD-based design information in enterprise-wide networked design environments. By merging the processes of design documentation and design data management through the concept of 'smart drawings', we characterize the development of a shared knowledge base for exchanging product information among multi-disciplinary design teams. The combination of relational database and document management technology enables the use of the CAD-based information as a single front-end to the design tools and for manipulating design data. The knowledge base is formed by associating CAD models to related documents and embedding significant semantic content in the domain model rather than in the application programs that use the database. The availability of design information is then accessed through an information repository in a client/server environment. The system was deployed and tested in an industrial, multi-disciplinary facilities design and management project.