1. A system comprising: a collaborative data store configured to store a model of an engineering object, wherein the model comprises a plurality of features, and wherein the model is encoded in a collaborative server format; a collaborative server configured to manage the collaborative data store; a first computer aided technology (CAx) client comprising at least one processor and configured to execute a first CAx application and enable the first user to edit the model of the engineering object encoded in a first client format that is different than the collaborative server format; wherein a synchronization module associated with the first CAx client or the collaborative server is configured to store within a set of memory locations within a storage medium, data for a feature of the engineering object in the first client format proprietary to the first CAx client and the collaborative server format having a neutral parametric canonical format that is not proprietary to the first CAx client, wherein the first client format and the collaborative server format are both maintained and stored in the storage medium in an updated state; and the synchronization module further configured to update the data for the feature in both the first client format and the collaborative server format in response to receiving an update to the feature from, or detecting an update to the feature by, the first CAx application or the collaborative server.