Quick Snapshot: Your CAD Reality

• How many engineers and CAD users work with your files on a daily basis? Options: 1–5, 6–20, 21–50, 51–200, 200+
• Which CAD tools and versions are in active use across your team? Options: SOLIDWORKS, Creo/ProE, Autodesk Inventor, Siemens NX, CATIA, Other (please list)
• Where are your active design files currently stored and shared? Options: Network file share (SMB/NFS), Engineer's local drives, Cloud file share (Dropbox/Drive/OneDrive), Existing PDM/PLM, Mixed/Other
• How would you describe your team's current confidence in finding the correct, latest revision when it matters? Options: Very confident, Mostly confident with occasional misses, Often unsure, Rarely confident
• Give one recent example—a quick story—where file storage or revision issues either slowed work or caused a small win (what happened, who noticed, result).

When a Mistake Becomes Real: How Bad Has It Gotten?

• Tell us about the last time the wrong revision went to manufacturing or a prototype—what broke and who raised the alarm?
• How frequently do revision-related errors (overwrites, wrong-file use, downloads-as-source) occur today? Options: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, Rare/Unknown
• When those incidents happen, what are the typical impacts on project timelines, cost, or quality? Options: Hours delay, Days delay, Rework costs, Scrap/rebuild, Regulatory or compliance impact, Other
• In your view, what are the top technical root causes for these incidents (pick all that apply)? Options: No version control, Multiple copies in personal folders, Broken CAD references, Poor naming conventions, Lack of search/indexing, Other
• How do these mistakes affect team morale, trust between engineering and manufacturing, or your perception of process reliability?

Are Engineers Actually Willing to Change?

• If a vault added a single extra click to save/open, would that be a dealbreaker for your team? Options: Yes—unacceptable, Maybe—depends on latency, No—if it feels as fast as a file share, Unsure
• Which parts of the engineer's workflow are the most sensitive to latency or extra steps (select all that apply)? Options: File open, Save/check-in, Assembly rebuilds, Search & find, Large assembly load times, Automated tool integrations (CAM/CAE)
• What performance thresholds would your engineers consider acceptable (e.g., open/save latency, assembly load time)? Please be specific if you can. Options: <500 ms, <1s, <2s, <5s, No hard threshold—must ‘feel’ instant
• Who usually drives tool adoption decisions on the engineering team—individual contributors, CAD admin, engineering manager, or IT—and why? Options: Individual engineers, CAD manager/CAD admin, Director of Engineering, IT/Infrastructure, Cross-functional committee
• Describe a time your team resisted a tooling change—what exactly triggered resistance and what helped overcome it (if anything)?

Can You Find What You Need—Before You Rebuild It?

• How often do engineers create a new part because they could not locate an existing one that would have worked? Options: Very often (weekly), Often (monthly), Sometimes (quarterly), Rarely, Don't know
• What search tools or practices do you rely on today to find existing parts and drawings? Options: File name search, Folder conventions, Local Excel/Inventory lists, Simple share search (OS), Existing PDM search, Other
• How consistent is metadata (part numbers, descriptions, revision history) across your files? Give examples of common gaps. Options: Very consistent, Mostly consistent, Inconsistent, Non-existent
• When a part is reused successfully, what is the usual pathway—who finds it, how is it validated, and how long does that take?
• If we could guarantee reliable search and clear assembly relationships, how would that change daily behavior or project outcomes for your team?

What Would ‘No Overwrites’ Really Unlock for You?

• Imagine overwrites, mismatched revisions, and lost work were eliminated—what immediate business outcomes would you expect to see? Options: Faster time-to-build, Reduced scrap/rework, Fewer change orders, Higher engineering throughput, Improved QA/first-pass yield
• Which measurable signals would convince you the vault is delivering value (pick up to three)? Options: % reduction in overwrite incidents, Time saved per engineer per week, Search hit rate for reusable parts, Average assembly open time, Number of parts reused
• What acceptance tests would you require during a hands-on evaluation (examples: check-in/check-out with sample, assembly-level revision sync, search accuracy on typical assemblies)? Options: Check-in/check-out on single parts, Assembly check-in with children, Search for parts by metadata, Performance on large assemblies, Integration with CAD add-in
• Over what timeline would you expect to see those KPI improvements after a successful pilot is deployed? Options: Immediately (weeks), 1–3 months, 3–6 months, 6–12 months
• Which stakeholders would you want to see these pilot results to consider broader rollout? Options: Engineering Director, CAD Manager, Manufacturing/Production Lead, IT/Infrastructure, Quality/Regulatory

Who's Holding the Keys—and the Budget?

• Who are the decision-makers and influencers for selecting a CAD vault solution, and what does each care about most?
• What are the commercial or procurement constraints and timelines we should plan around? Options: Quarterly budget cycle, Annual capital approval, Ad-hoc/Op funds, Vendor pre-approval required, Other
• What non-negotiable contractual items or SLAs must be included (performance, uptime, support response time, data residency)? Options: Performance SLA, Uptime/Availability, Support response time, Data residency/compliance, Escrow/exit terms
• Who will sign off on migration acceptance tests and ongoing success—name roles and the criteria they care about.
• Are there internal champions who can help drive adoption? If so, who and what influence do they have? Options: CAD Manager, Senior Engineer, Manufacturing Lead, IT Admin, No clear champion

Migration: Treasure Hunts, Trapdoors, and Clean-ups

• If we examined your current file repository, what messy realities do you expect us to find (e.g., orphaned files, multiple downloads-as-source, broken references)?
• What file types, CAD versions, and legacy systems must the migration handle? Options: Simulation files, Native CAD files, Drawings/2D PDFs, Legacy PDM/PLM exports, Other
• How large are your typical assemblies that matter for performance testing (select all that apply)? Options: Small assemblies (<100 parts), Medium (100–1,000 parts), Large (1,000–10,000 parts), Very large (10k+)
• What process or standards (if any) are in place today for file naming, part numbers, or BOM ownership that would impact migration? Options: Strict standards, Partial/spotty standards, No standards, Unknown until we inspect
• What constraints would force a rollback or pause during migration (e.g., manufacturing freeze, audits, peak seasons)? Options: Manufacturing ramp, Regulatory audit window, End-of-quarter deadlines, No migration during peak projects, Other

What Would Make a Pilot Impossible to Ignore?

• What single outcome from a hands-on CAD sample test would make you recommend this vault over alternatives? Options: Zero overwrite reproduction, Instant search hits for key parts, Assembly-level revision sync, No perceptible CAD latency, Other
• How many and which sample files would you be comfortable providing for an evaluation (sizes, assemblies, typical workflows)? Options: A few representative parts, A set of assemblies (small & large), Full project folder, Limited anonymized subset
• What performance benchmarks must we meet during the pilot for you to approve further rollout? Options: Open/save parity with file share, Search return within X seconds, Assembly rebuild time parity, No lost references during check-in
• Who will participate in hands-on testing (roles and expected time commitment)? Options: CAD engineers, CAD admin, IT support, Manufacturing engineer, Other
• How long should a representative pilot run before you can make a decision? Options: 1 week, 2–4 weeks, 1–3 months, Longer with milestones

Signals of Success—and the Long Game

• Beyond immediate fixes, what would make this project a strategic success in 12 months? Options: Full team adoption, Measurable reuse of parts, Reduced lead times to manufacturing, Fewer change orders, Improved audit readiness
• What governance or ongoing processes will you need to sustain success (owners, reviews, training cadence)? Options: Dedicated CAD admin, Regular training sessions, Monthly governance reviews, Automated metrics/reporting, Other
• What fears would make you question long-term value after deployment, and how would you like those addressed up front?
• If we could commit to an onboarding plan that includes migration, pilot validation, and engineer enablement, what would you need to see in the first 30, 60, and 90 days?
• What ongoing success metric would make you advocate for expanding the vault to other teams or sites? Options: % reduction in overwrite incidents, Average time saved per engineer, Number of reused parts, Reduction in manufacturing errors, Other

Quick Warm‑Up: Where We Start

• Tell us who’s on your CAD/design team and who typically makes the final call on tooling or workflow changes?
• Which CAD systems do your engineers use day‑to‑day (pick all that apply)? Options: SOLIDWORKS, Creo/Pro‑E, Autodesk Inventor, Siemens NX, Onshape, Other
• Roughly how many active CAD users would need good day‑to‑day performance for a vault to be considered successful? Options: 1–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 500+
• What’s one recent example—briefly—where file access or version confusion slowed a project?
• How urgently are you looking to address CAD version control and search issues? Options: Critical — immediate, High — within 1–3 months, Medium — 3–6 months, Low — 6+ months, Exploratory

What If Your Files Actually Talked?

• If your file storage could tell the truth right now, what embarrassing or costly secret would it reveal about how the team actually stores and names CAD files?
• Where are the canonical locations for released parts, drawings, and assemblies today? Options: Network share (central), Project folders on network share, Engineer local drives, Cloud storage (Dropbox/SharePoint), Hybrid/mixed
• Which of the following best describes how ‘latest revision’ is currently identified in your workflows? Options: Filename suffixes (v1, v2), Folder-based released folders, Manual change log, No clear method, Other
• Who typically owns the responsibility for placing a file into the official location—engineer, CAD admin, or someone else? Options: Engineer who created it, CAD manager/admin, Project manager, Manufacturing/Doc control, No single owner
• How often do engineers work from copies (Downloads, desktop) instead of the ‘official’ folder? Options: Very often, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, Never
• Describe any informal naming conventions or folder habits that have evolved and cause confusion.

When Things Break: Stories That Hurt

• Tell us about the worst time a revision mix‑up cost you time, money, or reputation—what happened and who noticed first?
• How frequently do rewrite/overwrite incidents occur for your team? Options: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely, Unknown
• What are the usual root causes when a wrong revision reaches manufacturing or a prototype build? Options: Wrong file copied to release, Engineer used local file, Search failed to find correct part, Assembly children not updated, Other
• When an incident happens, how long does it typically take to detect and contain the mistake? Options: Hours, Days, Weeks, Only after failure
• What is the typical business impact (time lost, scrap cost, delayed shipment) from a single significant revision error?
• How do these incidents make the team feel—embarrassed, cautious, defensive, or something else?

The Invisible Workflow Drag

• What would you lose, personally or as a team, if every save/open cycle suddenly took noticeably longer?
• Which CAD operations feel slow or fragile today—opening large assemblies, saving, searching, or referencing external files? Options: Opening assemblies, Saving/checking in, Searching parts, Managing references, All of the above, None
• What’s a typical assembly size your team designs in terms of parts and file count? Options: <50 parts, 50–250 parts, 250–1,000 parts, 1,000–5,000 parts, 5,000+
• What latency is acceptable for opening a working assembly compared to your current file share experience (in seconds)? Options: <2s, 2–5s, 5–10s, 10–30s, 30s+
• Where are your file servers located relative to major engineering offices (same LAN, remote datacenter, cloud region)? Options: Same LAN/office, Remote datacenter, Cloud region (AWS/Azure/GCP), Mixed/hybrid
• When you imagine a vault integrating at file‑system level, what parts of your current workflow worry you most about added clicks or friction?

How Your Team Finds and Reuses Work

• How confident are engineers that a part doesn’t already exist before they start designing from scratch? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident, We don’t try
• Walk me through how someone searches for an existing part or assembly today—what tools and steps are used?
• What percentage of new designs do you estimate are reworks of existing parts that weren’t found initially? Options: <10%, 10–25%, 25–50%, 50–75%, 75%+
• Which metadata fields would make search reliably useful for your team (pick the most important)? Options: Part number, Material, Project name, Revision/date, Author/owner, Custom attributes
• Do you currently maintain a parts library or catalog that enforces reuse? If yes, how is it governed? Options: Yes — centrally governed, Yes — informal, No, Partial/departmental
• Describe a time when not finding an existing part led to duplicated work—what could have changed to prevent it?

What Would ‘No Surprises’ Look Like?

• If you could snap your fingers and remove one recurring CAD‑data fear (overwrites, wrong revision, slow performance), which would you choose and why?
• Which of these measurable acceptance criteria would convince you a vault is successful? Options: Zero overwrite incidents, Open time ≤ current file share, Search finds 90% of relevant parts, Assembly rev consistency guaranteed, Automated revision bundles
• Which performance benchmarks are non‑negotiable for your team during evaluation? Options: Assembly open time, Save/check‑in latency, Search response, Concurrent user handling, CAD plugin responsiveness
• How would you validate that assemblies and their child parts rev together correctly—what acceptance test would you run?
• What small pilot outcome would make you comfortable rolling a vault out to the wider engineering team? Options: Successful sample import, No measurable slowdown, Positive engineer feedback, Resolved edge cases, All of the above
• What metrics or reports would you want post‑deployment to feel secure (e.g., overwrite incidents, search usage, performance traces)?

Practical Boundaries: Migration and Ownership

• How true is this statement: ‘We can’t afford a long, manual cleanup of legacy CAD files before migration’? Options: Completely true, Partly true, Not true—cleanup is feasible, Unsure
• What year range of CAD data do you expect to migrate into the vault? Options: Last 1–2 years, Last 3–5 years, Last 6–10 years, All historical data
• Which types of files must be migrated and preserved together (pick all that apply)? Options: Native CAD files, Drawings/PDFs, Simulation models, Tooling/fixtures, Manufacturing docs, Other
• Who will own data migration, cleanup, and acceptance on your side? Options: CAD admin, IT, Engineering leads, Third‑party consultant, Shared responsibility
• What level of tolerance do you have for leaving some legacy files out of the initial migration (pilot scope)? Options: No tolerance — all must move, Prefer all, but partial OK, Pilot with selective data, Only current projects
• Describe any regulatory, IP, or supplier constraints that affect what can be migrated or how it’s accessed.

Decision & Risk Radar

• What hidden costs or political roadblocks do you worry might derail a vault deployment?
• Which stakeholders must be convinced before a rollout—CAD engineers, IT security, procurement, manufacturing, executive sponsor? Options: CAD engineers, IT/security, Procurement, Manufacturing/production, Executive sponsor, Quality/document control
• What SLAs or uptime/performance guarantees would be required for IT/security to sign off? Options: 99.9% uptime, Performance parity with LAN, Audit logs/forensics, GDPR/IP protection, Other
• How much training or enablement do you think your engineers will tolerate before adoption falters? Options: Very little — must be invisible, A few hours, Half‑day workshops, Multiple sessions
• If the pilot uncovers a major workflow gap, what’s your preferred mitigation: rollback, patch, or staged fix? Options: Rollback to previous system, Apply a quick patch/workaround, Stage a targeted fix and continue pilot, Decide after root cause analysis
• Who on your team should we loop in to evaluate security and compliance aspects early?

A Small, Low‑Risk First Move

• If we propose a two‑week pilot with a subset of assemblies and users, what would be a meaningful success signal for you at the end? Options: No regressions in workflows, Performance equal or better, Engineers prefer it, Search finds relevant parts, Successful check‑in/out cycles
• Which team or project would you nominate for a pilot that’s representative of your toughest performance and rev‑control needs?
• What concerns would you want the pilot to specifically prove or disprove?
• What internal approvals are required after a successful pilot to move to full deployment? Options: Executive sponsor sign‑off, Budget approval, IT/security sign‑off, Change control approval, None—team can proceed
• How soon could your nominated pilot team allocate time to work with us (weeks)? Options: Immediately, 1–2 weeks, 3–4 weeks, 1–3 months, Longer
• Any final concerns, special constraints, or must‑have features we should know about before designing the pilot?

Who's Owning Success?

• Who will be our primary day-to-day contact for the vault deployment (name, role, email)?
• Which person or role has final sign-off authority for deployment go/no‑go decisions? Options: Director of Engineering, CAD Manager, IT Lead/Infrastructure, Operations/Manufacturing Lead, Other - please specify
• Who will own post-deployment governance (naming rules, retention, user provisioning)? Options: CAD Manager, IT/Sysadmin, Engineering Team Lead, Quality/Doc Control, Shared responsibility, Other
• How do you prefer to coordinate decisions during the rollout (weekly sync, Slack/channel, JIRA/ticket, email)? Options: Weekly sync meeting, Dedicated Slack/Teams channel, Ticketing system (JIRA/ServiceNow), Email thread, Combination
• Who on your team is likely to resist changing the current file‑share workflow and why?

If This Migration Breaks, Where Does the Real Damage Happen?

• If engineers suddenly lost access to revisions or saw wrong revisions in manufacturing, what would the real business impact look like? Options: Reputational damage, Production delay, Scrap/rework costs, Missed delivery, Regulatory/quality failure, Other
• Tell us about a recent incident where a revision mix-up or an overwrite caused measurable pain—what happened and how long did recovery take?
• How many business hours of downtime or degraded performance would be tolerable during a pilot or cutover before we must roll back? Options: <1 hour, 1–4 hours, 4–24 hours, 1–3 days, More than 3 days
• Which teams outside engineering would feel downstream impact from a failed or problematic deployment? Options: Manufacturing, Procurement, Quality, Supply Chain, Service/Field, Other
• Who in leadership needs evidence (metrics or demos) before authorizing full roll‑out, and what kind of evidence moves them? Options: Performance benchmarks, Zero overwrite incidents, Search hit-rate, Pilot user sign-off, Cost savings estimate, Other

Where Does Your CAD Actually Live — The Unvarnished Truth

• List every active CAD platform and version your engineering teams are using today (e.g., SolidWorks 2021, Creo 7, NX 13).
• Which of the following locations contain active CAD or drawing files today? Options: Network file share (SMB/NFS), Local user machines / Downloads, PLM/ERP, Cloud storage (Dropbox/OneDrive/Google Drive), External drives / USB, Other
• Roughly how many unique CAD files/objects will be in scope for the initial migration (orders of magnitude are fine)? Options: <1k, 1k–10k, 10k–50k, 50k–200k, >200k
• What percentage of your work is assemblies vs single-part files (approx)? Options: Mostly assemblies (>70%), Mix (30–70% assemblies), Mostly parts (<30% assemblies)
• Describe the largest or most complex assembly type we should validate for performance (part count, typical file size, real-world example).
• How many engineers will be working on those assemblies concurrently in peak periods? Options: 1–5, 6–15, 16–50, 51–200, 200+

How Messy Is Your Metadata (and Are We Ready to Tame It)?

• Do you currently use a consistent part-numbering or metadata standard across teams? Options: Yes, company-wide standard, Partial—by team or product line, No, inconsistent or ad-hoc
• Which attributes do you expect to search or filter on once the vault is live? Options: Part number, Description, Material, Revision, Drawing linked, Custom attributes (please list)
• How often do engineers store files in personal folders, Downloads, or external drives instead of the official share? Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Rarely, Don't know
• Give an example of an inconsistent naming or metadata problem we should know about (one or two specific filenames or folder patterns).
• Would you be willing to map a small set of standardized attributes during pilot to measure search/reuse improvements? Options: Yes, Maybe with help, No

Who Are the Pilot Users—and Will They Fight or Validate Us?

• Which team or product line do you want to scope for the pilot?
• What criteria will you use to pick pilot participants (seniority, project risk, assembly complexity, openness to change)? Options: Senior engineers, Low-risk projects, High-complexity assemblies, Enthusiastic adopters, Cross-functional mix, Other
• How many pilot users do you consider sufficient to validate check-in/check-out and performance? Options: 1–5, 6–15, 16–30, 30+
• Which acceptance tests must pass in pilot before we expand (select all that must be definitive)? Options: Check-in/check-out reliability, Assembly revision consistency, Search accuracy, CAD performance parity, Successful rollback test, User satisfaction > threshold
• Who will own pilot sign-off and who will own remediation for any failed test cases?

Can We Lock Down Access Without Breaking Your Designers' Flow?

• What identity and access systems do you use today (AD/LDAP, Azure AD, Okta, local accounts, other)? Options: Active Directory, Azure AD, Okta/SSO, Local/Manual accounts, Other
• Do you plan to include contractors, suppliers, or external partners in the vault? If so, at what scale? Options: No externals, A few named contractors, Multiple suppliers by project, Large supplier base
• Which of these access controls are required at cutover (pick all that apply)? Options: Role-based permissions, Folder-level ACLs, Attribute-based access, Time-limited access, Audit logs and alerts
• Are there any network constraints for CAD integrations (air-gapped sites, limited bandwidth, VPN-only users)? Describe.
• What audit and compliance reporting would you need from day one (user activity, file access, change logs)? Options: User actions audit, File change history, Exportable reports, Real-time alerts, Retention/compliance policies, Other

If We Need to Back Out, Do You Have a Working Escape Hatch?

• What existing backup/restore mechanisms do you have for CAD data today? Options: Regular file-share backups, Versioned archive, None, Other
• What are your required recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) in a rollback scenario? Options: RTO <1 hour; RPO <15 min, RTO 1–4 hours; RPO 15–60 min, RTO 4–24 hours; RPO 1–4 hours, RTO >24 hours; RPO >4 hours, Undetermined
• How many dry‑run migrations or dress rehearsals would you want before a production cutover? Options: None, 1, 2–3, 4+
• Describe what a successful rollback test looks like for your team (what we must demonstrate end-to-end).
• Who has authority to trigger a rollback and what communication channels should be used?

What Will Make Engineers Say “That Actually Works”?

• What's the single performance metric that will convince engineers the vault isn't slowing them down (e.g., open/save latency, assembly load time)? Options: Open/save latency, Assembly load time, Check-in/check-out time, Search response time, Other
• What numeric threshold would you accept as ‘no worse than file share’ for that metric (give ms or relative %)?
• Which acceptance tests do you want included in the Validation Checklist from day one? Options: Sample import success, Check-in/check-out cycles, Search accuracy on common parts, Assembly revision consistency, Workflow latency benchmarks
• How will you measure user satisfaction during pilot (surveys, NPS, usage metrics)? Options: Short survey, Net Promoter Score, Usage/engagement metrics, Direct interviews, Other
• What training or enablement will make engineers adopt the vault quickly (hands-on session, cheat-sheet, one-on-one support)? Options: Live hands-on training, Quick reference guides, Recorded demos, Embedded champion support, Other
• After three months post-rollout, what outcomes will make this project a clear success to you (list 2–3 measurable outcomes)?

Getting Oriented: Who You Are and Why We're Here

• Who will be the primary sponsor or final decision-maker for a vault deployment? Options: Director of Engineering / VP Eng, CAD Manager, IT Manager, Operations / Manufacturing Lead, Other (please name)
• How many engineers (CAD users) work in the product development organization that would touch the vault? Options: 1–5, 6–20, 21–50, 51–200, 200+
• Which CAD tools and versions are actively used by your team? Options: SolidWorks, Creo/ProE, Siemens NX, AutoCAD, CATIA, Onshape, Other (please list)
• How long have you relied on shared drives/local folders as the primary source-of-truth for CAD data? Options: Less than 1 year, 1–3 years, 3–7 years, 7+ years
• Tell us, in your own words, about the specific incident or discovery that made you start this evaluation (what happened, who was affected, and the outcome).

Are You Comfortable Betting Production on a Folder?

• How often do wrong or stale revisions make it to manufacturing or assembly in your operations? Options: Multiple times per month, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely, Never (we believe)
• When a revision error occurs, what's the typical business impact—time lost, rework cost, and safety risk? Options: Minor rework (hours), Major rework (days/weeks), Production scrap, Field recalls/warranty, Safety incident, Other
• Who usually discovers a wrong revision first (engineer, machinist, QA, supplier), and how long does it typically take before it's noticed? Options: Engineer (during design), Manufacturing floor, Quality/Inspection, Supplier/Contractor, Customer/Field, Other
• Has your organization ever been forced to delay a build or shipment because the ‘latest’ drawing couldn’t be located or validated? Describe one example.
• How would you describe the emotional effect of these incidents on your engineering team and manufacturing partners (e.g., stress, blame, distrust)? Options: High stress and finger-pointing, Annoying but manageable, Motivates process improvements, Low emotional impact, Other

What If Your Engineers Refused to Click More?

• How acceptable is any added friction in the save/open/edit cycle for your engineers? Options: Zero added latency tolerated, Small, infrequent pauses OK, Up to 1–2 extra clicks OK, Flexible if benefits are clear
• Describe the current save → open → edit → save flow in your most-used CAD tool and where it feels slow or fragile today.
• Which latency threshold would you consider a deal-breaker for daily CAD operations? Options: <100 ms, 100–300 ms, 300–500 ms, 500 ms–1 sec, >1 sec
• Which integrations are non-negotiable for your engineers to keep their current workflow (select all that apply)? Options: File-system-level intercept / transparent save, Native CAD add-in, Network-mounted vault (SMB/NFS), Automated drawing/assembly rev sync, BOM export to ERP/CAM
• What assembly sizes and file complexity represent your worst-case scenario for performance (give examples or part counts)? Options: Simple parts (<50 files), Medium assemblies (50–500 files), Large assemblies (500–2,000 files), Very large (>2,000 files), Mixed—depends on the product family

Let’s Map What You Actually Have — Not What You Hope Exists

• Where are your CAD, drawing, and spec files currently stored (select all that apply)? Options: Local workstations, Shared network drive (SMB/NFS), Company cloud file share (Box/Drive/OneDrive), PLM system, External contractors' repos, Other
• Do you have explicit naming or revision conventions today, and how consistently are they followed? Options: Strict & consistently followed, Defined but inconsistently followed, No formal convention, Legacy mixed conventions
• What are the most common revision or save failure modes you've seen (e.g., multiple engineers editing same file, local copies left in Downloads, mislinked assembly children)?
• How available and clean is a representative sample of your CAD data for an evaluation (can we get a 1–5 GB sample with assemblies and drawings)? Options: Immediate and well organized, Available but messy, Requires extraction effort, Not available without IT help
• Approximately what percentage of your historical CAD archive would you expect to migrate into the vault during an initial deployment? Options: 0–10%, 10–30%, 30–60%, 60–90%, 90–100%

What Would 'Zero Surprises' Actually Look Like for You?

• Which top outcomes must be true for you to call the deployment a success? (pick up to 3) Options: Zero overwrite incidents, Search returns correct part every time, Assembly and child-part revs stay synchronized, No perceptible slowdown in CAD workflow, Migration completed with minimal downtime, User adoption across team
• For each selected outcome, what measurable acceptance criteria should we use during validation (give specific numbers or pass/fail rules)?
• How will you or your QA team run acceptance tests—who will execute them and what resources do they need? Options: Engineering team runs tests, IT runs performance tests, Third-party test team, Joint sessions with our engineers
• What search accuracy would you require in the pilot to consider search functionality adequate (precision and recall targets or examples)? Options: Near-perfect for exact part numbers, High for feature-based search, Good for similarity-based suggestions, Unsure — need guidance
• Who must sign off on the acceptance tests before we move from pilot to broad deployment? Options: Director of Engineering, CAD Manager, IT Manager, Manufacturing/Operations Lead, Quality/Compliance

How Deep Should the Solution Reach Before We Pull the Trigger?

• Which functional modules do you expect to include in the initial scope (choose all that should be present at launch)? Options: File versioning / check-in-check-out, Drawing/assembly rev control, Search & indexing, BOM management, CAD integration add-ins, Access controls & permissions
• Which external systems must the vault integrate with during deployment (ERP, PLM, CAM, PDM, other)? Options: ERP (e.g., SAP), Existing PLM, CAM systems, Supplier portals, None required initially, Other (name)
• What data migration boundaries are acceptable for the first phase (e.g., migrate released items only, last 2 years, full history)? Options: Released items only, Last 1 year, Last 2–3 years, Full history, Custom selection by product family
• Who will own which migration responsibilities (your team, our team, a third-party consultant)? Options: Customer leads migration, Host / vendor leads migration, Third-party consultant leads, Joint responsibilities (please specify)
• What explicit acceptance tests should be included in the scope to validate a successful vault deployment (list specific checks)?

If We Ran a Pilot Tomorrow, What Would Make It Unmissable?

• How many pilot users and which roles should be included to make the trial meaningful? Options: 1–3 engineers, 4–10 engineers, 10–25 engineers, Cross-functional including manufacturing & QA
• What should the pilot dataset look like (assembly examples, part types, size benchmarks)?
• What are your expectations for rollback and contingency during the pilot—what conditions require us to stop and roll back? Options: Any production impact, Performance degradation > X, Data integrity failures, User adoption below threshold, Other (please describe)
• Which training and enablement formats will best get engineers comfortable quickly (hands-on lab, video tutorials, pairing sessions, cheat-sheets)? Options: Live hands-on sessions, Pre-recorded videos, Cheat sheets / quick reference, On-demand office hours, Combination
• What communication channels and governance cadence do you prefer during pilot and rollout (Slack, Teams, weekly review, steering committee)? Options: Slack/Teams channel, Weekly status calls, Bi-weekly steering committee, Email updates, Other

Validation: How Will You Put the Solution Through Its Paces?

• What constitutes a successful sample import for you (file types supported, no missing references, complete assemblies)? Options: All files import cleanly with references, Minor fixes required but acceptable, Some manual fixes expected, Uncertain—need guidance
• What pass/fail criteria should we use for check-in/check-out cycles (concurrency limits, locked file behavior, expected conflict resolution)?
• How will you measure search accuracy during validation (example queries, target hit rates, acceptable false positives)? Options: Exact part number recall, Feature/geometry search recall, High precision for drawing lookups, Custom metric (describe)
• What tests would prove assembly revision consistency (examples: rev-sync across assembly and child parts, auto-increment rules, linked drawing updates)?
• Which performance and latency benchmarks must we meet under your typical working conditions (network type and assembly size considered)? Options: Local network <100ms, Remote office <300ms, Large assembly load <2s, Search results <1s, Other (specify)
• Who will own running and documenting each validation checklist item on your side, and what timeline do you expect for completing validation? Options: Engineering lead, CAD admin, IT/Infrastructure, QA/Validation team, Cross-functional team

Where Do We Go From Here — Timing, Commitment, and Realistic Next Steps

• What is your target timeline for making a decision and starting a pilot? Options: Immediately (within 2 weeks), Within 1 month, 1–3 months, 3–6 months, No firm timeline
• What internal approvals or budget milestones must occur before you can sign a pilot or purchase order? Options: Budget holder approval, Procurement review, Legal/contracting, IT security review, Executive sponsor sign-off
• What remaining concerns or real risks would prevent you from moving forward after a successful pilot?
• If we could commit to a measurable SLA for performance and a rollback plan you approve, would that materially change your willingness to proceed? Options: Yes — significantly, Somewhat, No change, Need more details
• Who else should be involved in the next workshop or technical deep dive to make decisions faster (names and roles)?