Finite element analysis is very important in the design and analysis of mechanical engineering. The process of FEA encompasses shape modeling, mesh generation, matrix solving and post-processing. Some of these processes can be tightly integrated with the current software architectures and data sharing mode. However, complete integration of all the FEA process itself and the integration to the manufacturing processes is almost impossible in the current practice. The barriers to this problem are inconsistent data format and the enterprise-wise software integration technology. In this research, the information model based on STEP AP209 was chosen for handling finite element analysis data. The international standard for the FEA data can bridge the gap between design, analysis and manufacturing processes. The STEP-based FEA system can be further tightly integrated to the distributed software and database environment using CORBA technology. The prototype FEA system DICESS is implemented to verify the proposed concepts.