This paper focuses on the co-ordination of engineering design through the collaboration point of view in order to help managers controlling design processes. We focus on the organisation and process aspects to facilitate collaboration between designers and to foster the co-ordination of design projects by integrating the product, process and organisation points of view (PPO model). Indeed, results of the collaborative design activities directly depend on relationships between design actors. Our aim is to allow project managers enhancing and controlling different types of collaborative processes in order to prescribe emerging collaboration between different experts. We propose then a method for storing and analysing collaborative processes in situ, in order that such processes can be formalised and re-used by project managers. This method is supported on a dedicated and implemented tool, called CoCa. A case study into an SME, designing and manufacturing innovative mechanical products, has been achieved to evaluate the possible feedback to design co-ordination and especially by managing collaborative processes through PLM systems workflow technology.