A system, method, and executable program code are used to design a capital project having a plurality of components. An application programming interface receives, from one or more 3D design systems, design change data for a checked component in the plurality of components. One or more rules each provide a design constraint between the checked component and at least one other functionally-related reference component, the functional relationship being defined by an end user for the design of the specific capital project. A computing processor applies each of the rules to produce a determination whether the checked component satisfies the design constraint of the applied rule. Finally, data indicative of each such determination are stored in a database, for eventual transmission to one or more of the 3D design systems.