The design philosophy considered is that of  the  Load Cases and Resistance Method or Limit States Design usually known as Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD).

Structures are designed and proportioned taking into consideration the limit states at which they would become unfit for their intended use. Two major categories of limit-state are recognized--ultimate and serviceability. The primary considerations in ultimate limit state design are strength and stability, while that in serviceability is deflection. Appropriate load and resistance factors are used so that a uniform reliability is achieved for all steel structures under various loading conditions and at the same time the chances of limits being surpassed are acceptably remote.

In the STAAD.Pro implementation of the Mexican Standards for steel structures, members are proportioned to resist the design loads without exceeding the limit states of strength, and stability. It allows to check deformation to verify serviceability.

Accordingly, the most economic section is selected on the basis of the least weight criteria as augmented by the designer in specification of allowable member depths, desired section type, or other such parameters. The code checking portion of the program checks that main code requirements for each selected section are met and identifies the governing criteria.

The following sections describe the salient features of the Mexican specifications as implemented in STAAD.Pro steel design. A brief description of the fundamental concepts is presented here.