Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the business paradigm that companies employ as a key for success. Currently, industry needs people at working in a collaborative environment with PLM, since this is the challenge they will be facing in the global economy. At the moment this professional profile is not common in the work market and there is therefore, an educational gap. As well as technical knowledge, new engineers must be familiar with the PLM philosophy and use its tools to work effectively in collaboration with teams around the world. In order to bridge this gap, this paper presents a visualization model that gives the guidelines for a proper understanding of the CAD design activities executed in a PLM system. The proposed model, which follows the work method of a large car manufacturer, has been successfully tested and applied in a university course.