1. A computer system for carrying out engineering tasks as a part of an engineering project, comprising: a plurality of client computers; at least one server computer accessible by the client computers via a communications network; and a multi-tiered software system that includes system programs, application programs, and database programs, each of which is stored on one of the computers, the application programs comprising a plurality of different application programs including one more computer aided software tools used to carry out engineering tasks using data accessed via one or more of the database programs; wherein the system programs include a system objects module, a job manager module, an event manager module, and a work book module; wherein the system objects module operates to provide security and authentication services, the application programs operate to carry out at least some of the engineering tasks, the job manager module operates to manage use of the application programs, the event manager module operates to receive and distribute notifications between at least some of the modules, and the work book module operates to provide a user of the application programs with engineering information related to one or more of the engineering tasks; and wherein the job manager module further operates to manage use of the application programs by allocating various job tasks to different application programs based on job characteristics or on the availability or capability of a particular computer to carry out the job task.