Cassava is marketed in fresh form, which requires manual peeling for later human consumption. Currently, there is a growing commercialization of peeled cassava, however the processing is done by hand. This article presents the study of the operation to remove the external shell and the inner shell of cassava, as well as others factors involved, necessary to build the knowledge base required for the conceptual definition of functional structure of a cassava peeling machine. This research is delimited to the early stages of the design of industrial products. The objective is to check whether there is a relationship between factors of influence in the operation of peeling and the functional structure of a cassava peeling machine. The methodology is based on a reference model for agricultural machinery development process, with a focus on activities pertaining to the phases of informational and conceptual design. The results establish that the analysis of the operation of peeling are determinants influencing factors for the complete definition of the functional structure. The global function "to remove the external shell and inner shell of cassava" consists in four partial functions that divide into thirteen elementary functions. Of these, ten functions are derived from the influence of the factors initially identified. Thus, it is possible to verify the existence of a relationship between the design influence factors and the functional structure of cassava peeling machine, demonstrating the dependence of the settings made in the informational design phase and the tasks established during the conceptual design phase.