Quick Orientation — Tell Us Who You Are

• What's your name, role, and how long have you been directly involved in technology transfer at this institution?
• How large is your TTO team today (FTEs), and how is that team allocated across intake, prosecution, licensing, and post-license management? Options: 1–4 FTEs, 5–9 FTEs, 10–19 FTEs, 20+ FTEs
• Roughly how many active items do you manage across these categories right now (invention disclosures, active patents, active licenses, and royalty-bearing agreements)? Options: <100, 100–299, 300–749, 750–1,499, 1,500+
• What primary tools do you currently use to manage disclosures, deadlines, and royalties? Options: Spreadsheets (Excel/Sheets), Shared drives (network or cloud folders), Homegrown database or Access, Commercial TTO software, Paper/manual systems, Other
• If you could summarize one thing you wish your current tools did better, what would it be?

When Deadlines Quietly Decide Your Fate

• How many times in the last 3 years has a missed deadline (patent filing, foreign priority, or payment deadline) materially affected an IP position or commercialization opportunity? Options: None, 1 time, 2–3 times, 4–6 times, More than 6 times
• What typically causes those missed deadlines—data gaps, human error, unclear owner, system limitations, or something else? Options: Incomplete records, No single owner, Spreadsheet error, Calendar mismatch/time zone, Third‑party counsel delays, Other
• Tell us about the most impactful missed-deadline incident you can recall: what happened, who found out, and what were the institutional consequences?
• How do you currently surface upcoming critical prosecution deadlines and ensure someone is accountable for action? Options: Email reminders, Shared calendar, Weekly team review, Manual tracking in spreadsheets, Automated system alerts, We don’t consistently surface them
• If deadlines stopped being your biggest worry, how would that change daily life for you and your team?

Are You Sure Your Bayh‑Dole Story Would Hold Up?

• When was the last time your office was subject to a sponsor or federal compliance review focused on Bayh‑Dole reporting or invention disclosures? Options: Within 12 months, 1–3 years, 3–5 years, More than 5 years, Never
• What gaps, if any, were flagged or remain a concern in how you record, assign, or report federally funded inventions?
• Walk me through how an invention flows from disclosure to sponsor report today—where do you most often see friction or missing data?
• Who owns sponsor reporting and Bayh‑Dole compliance at your institution, and who gets looped in when a potential gap appears? Options: TTO Director, Compliance/Grants Office, Sponsored Programs, VP Research, Department Admins, Other
• How confident are you that your current records would support a clean audit—are there specific data elements you worry about (e.g., funding source linkage, inventor contributions, patent status)? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident, Unsure

Where Money Disappears — The Royalty Blindspots

• How often do you reconcile royalty inflows to license records and inventor distributions? Options: Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, Ad hoc/As time permits, Never
• Have you experienced instances of unrecorded or misallocated royalties? If yes, what was the scale and cause? Options: No, Yes — small amounts (<$10k), Yes — moderate ($10k–$100k), Yes — material (>$100k), Unsure
• Which parts of royalty management feel the messiest—payment ingestion, ledger reconciliation, inventor payout calculations, license amendments, or tracking milestones? Options: Payment ingestion, Ledger reconciliation, Inventor payouts, License amendments, Milestone tracking, All of the above, Other
• How much time (FTE hours per month) does your team spend just fixing or tracking royalty exceptions and queries? Options: <10 hours, 10–40 hours, 40–80 hours, 80–160 hours, 160+ hours
• If you could eliminate one recurring royalty headache, which would you pick and why?

Who Owns This—and Who’s Just Living With It?

• If you had to name the single person who would lose the most sleep if the TTO system failed, who would it be and why?
• Which stakeholders outside the TTO must be involved in change—research admin, finance, legal, department chairs, deans, or others? Options: Research Admin, Finance/Accounting, Legal/Counsel, Department Chairs, Deans/VP Research, IT/Security, External Counsel/Licensees
• What kinds of resistance or political obstacles have you faced when trying to update processes or tools in the past? Options: Cultural resistance, Budget constraints, Lack of executive buy‑in, Data ownership disputes, IT resource limits, Vendor integration concerns, None
• Who on your team would be the early champion for a new platform, and who would be the strongest skeptic?
• How do decisions like this typically get made at your institution—committee, single approver, procurement, or some hybrid? Options: Single approver (Director/Dean), Committee review, Procurement-led evaluation, Hybrid (committee + approver), Other

What Would a Risk‑Free Pilot Actually Prove?

• If we ran a pilot with your data, what are the non‑negotiable outcomes that would make you comfortable recommending full adoption?
• Which of these pilot success signals matter most to you—reduction in missed deadlines, faster Bayh‑Dole reporting, royalty reconciliation time saved, user adoption, or data accuracy improvements? Options: Fewer missed deadlines, Faster/cleaner Bayh‑Dole reports, Reduced time on royalty reconciliation, High user adoption/engagement, Improved data accuracy
• What data set would you be willing to provide for a pilot (single department disclosures, past 12 months royalties, a sample of license agreements), and what would you absolutely refuse to share? Options: Single department disclosures, 12 months of royalties, Sample license agreements, Patent prosecution records, We cannot share PII or sensitive license terms, Other
• How long do you think a pilot needs to run to demonstrate those signals—six weeks, three months, six months, or longer? Options: 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, Longer than 6 months, Unsure
• What would be the minimum acceptance criteria for the pilot—specific KPIs, stakeholder signoffs, or a go/no‑go governance meeting?

If Everything Changed Tomorrow, What Good Would That Do?

• Imagine your TTO two years after adopting a modern platform—what three outcomes make you feel it was worth the effort?
• Beyond process metrics, how would you like this change to show up in stories—what example of success would you want to tell a dean or funder?
• Which emotional benefits would matter most to your team—less stress, more trust in data, greater recognition, or clearer career growth? Options: Less stress, More trust in data, Greater recognition, Clearer career growth, Other
• What would you be unwilling to trade off—speed, accuracy, data ownership, or user privacy—when evaluating a solution? Options: Speed, Accuracy, Data ownership, User privacy, Cost
• If we could guarantee one thing from day one of deployment, what would you pick—no missed deadlines, auditable Bayh‑Dole reports, or automated royalty postings? Options: No missed deadlines, Auditable Bayh‑Dole reports, Automated royalty postings, Improved user adoption

Practical Next Moves — Decisions, Data, and Who Signs Off

• What is your preferred procurement timeline for a solution like this—immediate, within this fiscal year, next fiscal year, or exploratory only? Options: Immediate, Within this fiscal year, Next fiscal year, Exploratory only/Undecided
• What internal approvals would be required to start a pilot (IT security, legal review, procurement, finance), and which of those typically take the longest? Options: IT/Security, Legal/Counsel, Procurement, Finance/Budget Office, Executive sponsor signoff
• Which systems must we integrate with for the pilot to be meaningful (e.g., research admin/CRIS, finance/ERP, eRA Commons, external counsel portals)? Options: Research admin/CRIS, Finance/ERP, eRA Commons/NIH systems, External counsel portals, No integrations required for pilot, Other
• What security or privacy requirements are mandatory for your institution (SOC2, FERPA/PII controls, contractual NDA, on‑premises hosting)? Options: SOC2, NDA/Contractual protections, PII/FERPA controls, On‑premises requirement, Other
• Who should be our point of contact to coordinate a pilot (name, role, best email), and who else should be on the initial kickoff invite list?
• What would constitute a deal breaker for you in pilot terms—data residency, vendor references, cost structure, or something else? Options: Data residency, Lack of references, Unclear cost model, Integration risk, Other

• Data Intake & Current-State Confirmation
• Deadline Prevention & Patent Workflow Experience
• Bayh‑Dole Reporting Experience
• Royalties & License Scenarios — End-to-End Validation and Pilot Decision

• Seller: Prepare sandbox, import plan, and a one-page mapping of customer fields to platform fields prior to the Experience sessions.
• Seller: Configure/adjust alert thresholds and escalation rules per agreed SME feedback in the sandbox.
• Customer: Confirm who will sign off when remediations are applied (name and role).
• Reconfirm Reporting Success Criteria
• Show that Bayh‑Dole reports can be generated automatically and are auditable end-to-end.
• Customer confirms the report content aligns with sponsor requirements or lists exact field-level changes needed.
• Agree on the remaining data-normalization tasks required before pilot reporting runs are considered acceptable.
• Seller: Deliver a field-by-field mapping document linking customer sponsor/project identifiers to platform fields and sample exports.
• Customer: Provide any sponsor-code crosswalks and sample historical submitted reports for final reconciliation.
• Seller: Configure audit-trail retention and export formats aligned with the customer's internal audit policies.
• Customer: Approve acceptance threshold for automated reports (e.g., 95% field-match) or request targeted fixes.
• Recap & Pilot Decision Criteria
• Prove that royalty calculations and distributions match expectations across representative license scenarios.
• Confirm finance export formats and integration approach required for reconciliation and payouts.
• Reach a clear pilot decision (approve, approve with conditions, or pause) and document the conditions if any.
• Customer: Provide full license documents and historical payment records for any scenarios that failed validation.
• Seller: Produce a Pilot Statement of Work and Pilot Acceptance Checklist reflecting the validated success signals and any conditional items.
• Seller: Deliver finance export samples (CSV/GL) and a short integration plan for campus finance/ERP teams.
• Customer: Confirm pilot sponsors, timeline, and necessary internal approvals to start the pilot per the agreed SOW.
• Customer signs off the ONE-sentence current state and ONE-sentence desired future state.
• Quantified consequences are accepted and linked to sample records to be used in the experience.
• Customer provides the agreed representative dataset and names SME(s) for follow-up.
• Experience acceptance criteria and schedule are finalized.
• Customer: Deliver agreed sample set (20–50 disclosures, 5–10 license documents, payment history extract) in the specified format within 5 business days.
• Customer: Identify SME(s) for patent, compliance (Bayh‑Dole), and royalty finance who will join the live sessions.
• Introductions & Objectives
• Seller: Produce an acceptance-criteria checklist tied to the ONE-sentence future state for validation during each Experience meeting.
• Agree remediation actions and owners for any import or mapping gaps discovered.
• Recap Preconditions & Success Signals
• Prove that platform mapped the customer's records and can generate actionable deadline alerts that prevent missed filings.
• Customer SMEs validate mappings and workflows or list precise exceptions to be resolved.
• Seller: Deliver a Deadline Mapping Report showing source fields, platform fields, and any inferred dates within 3 business days.
• Customer: Provide clarifications or corrected dates for any records flagged as ambiguous in the mapping report.
• Import & Mapping of License Terms
• Imported Records Walkthrough
• Show Auto-generated Bayh‑Dole Report
• One-sentence Current State
• Reconciliation vs Historical Submissions
• Proof: Run Calculations Across Scenarios
• Proof: Automated Deadline Detection & Alerts
• Explicit Consequence Summary
• Tie Back to Consequence
• Define One-sentence Future State
• Audit Trail & Exception Handling
• Reconciliation & Finance Integration Export
• Dataset & Document Handoff
• Validation, Risk Review & Pilot Scope Decision
• Validation Checkpoint with SMEs
• Validation & Required Adjustments
• Gaps, Remediations & Next Steps
• Experience Acceptance Criteria & Logistics

• Import and Clean Invention Records
• Centralized IP Document Repository
• Automated Patent Docketing and Deadline Tracking
• Bayh-Dole Reporting Automation and Exports
• License Agreement Management with E‑Signature
• Royalty Accounting and Distribution Processing
• License Milestone Payment Collection
• Patent Prosecution Cost and Invoice Management
• Portfolio Analytics and Commercialization Metrics Dashboard
• Integration with Institutional ERP and Finance
• Startup Equity and Option Tracking
• Inventor and Department Payment Disbursement
• Patent Office Correspondence and Deadline Audit Trail
• Single Sign-On and Role-Based Access Control

Import and Clean Invention Records

• Do you require import and cleaning of historical invention disclosure records for the pilot? Options: Yes, No
• Which sources hold your invention records to be ingested? Options: Spreadsheets, Shared drives (network), Legacy TTO system, Attorney/firm exports, Paper/scans, Other
• Approximately how many invention records are in scope for initial migration? Options: Less than 500, 500-2,000, 2,000-10,000, More than 10,000
• Do records require deduplication, normalization of inventor names, or canonicalization of departments? Options: Yes, No, Partial/Unsure
• What fields are mandatory after import (e.g., disclosure date, inventors, department, sponsor)? List them.
• What acceptance criteria will confirm imports are successful (e.g., % matched, no critical field gaps)?

Centralized IP Document Repository

• Do you want a centralized repository for patents, disclosures, licenses, and related documents? Options: Yes, No
• Which document locations and formats must be consolidated? Options: PDF, Word/Docs, Email attachments, Network drives, Document management system (DMS), Other
• Will documents need OCR and full-text indexing for search? Options: Yes, No, Partially
• Are there retention, access, or sponsor confidentiality policies we must enforce? Options: Yes, No
• What metadata schema do you require for documents (e.g., disclosure ID, docket number, effective date)?
• Define success criteria for the repository (e.g., search accuracy, % documents linked to records).

Automated Patent Docketing and Deadline Tracking

• Do you want automated docketing and deadline management for prosecution and PCT timelines? Options: Yes, No
• Which jurisdictions and patent offices must be supported in the pilot? Options: US only, US + select foreign, Global/multi-jurisdiction
• Do you currently maintain external attorney docket numbers or external docket systems to sync? Options: Yes, external attorney dockets, Yes, in-house docket, No
• What notification channels and escalation rules do you require (email, SMS, task assignment)? Options: Email, In-app tasks, SMS/Phone, Other
• How do you define a deadline audit and what tolerance for missed deadlines is acceptable for pilot acceptance?
• Are timezone, national holiday calendars, or university closure rules needed for deadline calculations? Options: Yes, No

Bayh-Dole Reporting Automation and Exports

• Is automating Bayh-Dole reporting a requirement for the pilot? Options: Yes, No
• Which sponsor systems or export formats are required (e.g., federal portal CSV, internal audit exports)? Options: Federal portal format, Custom CSV/Excel, PDF reports, Other
• Do you have a canonical mapping for award-to-disclosure relationships today? Options: Yes, No, Partial
• Who owns Bayh-Dole compliance in your organization and who will review automated reports? Options: TTO Director, Compliance Office, Research Admin, Other
• What frequency and audit trail depth are required for compliance exports? Options: Ad-hoc, Monthly, Quarterly, On-demand with full audit
• Describe acceptance criteria for reporting automation (fields included, traceability to source records).

License Agreement Management with E‑Signature

• Will you use electronic signature workflows for license agreements in the pilot? Options: Yes, No
• Which e-sign providers or standards must be supported (e.g., DocuSign, Adobe Sign, internal PKI)? Options: DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Other, No preference
• Do you require template libraries, clause libraries, or contract versioning? Options: Templates, Clause library, Versioning, Approval routing
• Will external parties (licensees, companies) need guest signing access without full user licenses? Options: Yes, No
• Do signed agreements need to auto-link to license records and trigger downstream processes (royalty, disbursement)? Options: Yes, No
• What acceptance criteria demonstrate contract management works (e.g., executed agreement auto-attached, signature audit log present)?

Royalty Accounting and Distribution Processing

• Is end-to-end royalty accounting and inventor/distribution processing required in scope for the pilot? Options: Yes, No
• Which revenue types must be supported (select all that apply)? Options: Running royalties, Upfront fees, Milestone payments, Equity/stock, Other
• Do you require integration with finance/ERP for posting revenue and distributions? Options: Yes, No, Planned
• How are inventor and department splits determined (fixed %, agreement-defined, manual overrides)? Options: Fixed %, Agreement-defined, Manual/one-off
• What reporting and audit requirements exist for royalty calculations (e.g., downloadable ledgers, tax reporting)?
• Define success criteria for royalty processing (e.g., reconciliation tolerance, timely disbursement dates).

License Milestone Payment Collection

• Do you need automated tracking and collection of license milestone payments in the pilot? Options: Yes, No
• How are milestone events recorded today (contract text, manual calendar, invoices)? Options: Contract text, Spreadsheets, Email/manual, Other
• Should the system generate invoices or payment requests automatically when milestones hit? Options: Yes, No
• Which payment methods and processors must be supported (ACH, wire, credit card)? Options: ACH, Wire, Credit card, Check, Other
• What acceptance criteria indicate milestone collection is working (e.g., % automated invoice generation, successful reconciliations)?
• Who will manage overdue escalations and dispute resolution for milestone payments? Options: Licensing Manager, Finance, Legal, Other

Patent Prosecution Cost and Invoice Management

• Do you want a module to capture and approve patent prosecution invoices and costs? Options: Yes, No
• Where do prosecution invoices originate (external firms, in-house counsel, third-party vendors)? Options: External law firms, In-house counsel, Vendors, Other
• Do invoices need GL coding and approval routing to finance before payment? Options: Yes, No
• Do you require linking costs to specific patent families and budget tracking per case? Options: Yes, No
• What invoice formats and throughput volumes should we expect (PDF, EDI, CSV)? Options: PDF, CSV/Excel, EDI/API, Other
• Define acceptance criteria for prosecution cost management (e.g., matching rate, approval SLAs).

Portfolio Analytics and Commercialization Metrics Dashboard

• Which KPIs must be included in the pilot dashboard (select top items)? Options: Disclosures per year, Licenses executed, Royalty revenue, Time-to-license, Return on investment, Other
• Who are the primary consumers of dashboards (TTO leadership, research office, finance, board)? Options: TTO leadership, Research office, Finance, Deans/VPs, Other
• Do dashboards require drill-down to individual records and exportable datasets? Options: Yes, No
• Do you need benchmarking against peer institutions or historical baselines? Options: Yes, No
• What cadence do you expect for automated reporting (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly)? Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Ad-hoc
• Describe acceptance criteria for analytics (data freshness, accuracy threshold, user adoption targets).

Integration with Institutional ERP and Finance

• Which institutional ERP/finance systems must the platform integrate with for the pilot? Options: PeopleSoft/Oracle, Workday, Banner, Custom ERP, Other
• Preferred integration method? Options: Real-time API, Scheduled file export/import (SFTP), Database replication, Manual CSV
• Do you require GL account mapping, cost center mapping, or project codes to post transactions? Options: GL mapping, Cost center mapping, Project codes, None
• Are there institutional security, compliance, or change control policies we must follow for integrations? Options: Yes, No
• What is the expected frequency of financial synchronization (real-time, nightly, weekly)? Options: Real-time, Nightly, Weekly, Ad-hoc
• Define success criteria for ERP integration (e.g., reconciled postings, number of failover events allowed).

• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Pilot Agreement
• Commercial Term Sheet & Payment Schedule
• Data Processing & Ownership Agreement (DPA)
• Security & Compliance Addendum
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Integration & API Schedule
• Data Migration & Rollback Plan
• Governance & Steering Committee Charter
• Change Order Agreement
• Intellectual Property & Licensing Addendum
• Termination & Exit Plan
• Acceptance Criteria & Success Metrics

• Pilot Results Review (Solution Experience)
• Portfolio Readiness Assessment
• Risk, Remediation & Rollback Planning
• Executive Sponsor Sign-off & Commercial Alignment
• Shared Backlog & Continuous Improvement Grooming

• Confirm executive sponsor and steering committee cadence for the rollout period.
• Vendor to provide integration test reports and proposed mitigations for any failing interfaces.
• Customer to schedule final role-based training sessions and confirm attendee lists.
• Issue Triage & Prioritization
• Prioritize pilot issues and assign remediation owners with deadlines.
• Define concrete acceptance tests for each remediation item.
• Establish rollback procedures and communications to minimize operational risk.
• Publish a prioritized Remediation Plan with owners, timelines, test criteria, and go/no-go checkpoints.
• Create a rollback playbook with data restore points and clear escalation paths.
• Schedule remediation verification sessions and publish expected validation artifacts.
• Obtain executive sign-off to proceed to portfolio-wide rollout or a defined phased approach.
• Executive Summary of Pilot Outcomes
• Align on any commercial or governance items that must be finalized prior to rollout.
• One-sentence Current State Summary
• Document executive decision and publish an approved rollout charter with scope and timeline.
• Finalize any required commercial amendments or governance documents and circulate for signatures.
• Assign an executive sponsor and set a recurring steering cadence for the first 90 days of rollout.
• Backlog Review & Triage
• Maintain a single source of truth for outstanding issues and enhancements with agreed priorities.
• Ensure items scheduled for work have clear acceptance criteria and owners.
• Define SLAs and escalation processes to manage post-rollout support effectively.
• Publish the prioritized backlog with owners, target release/sprint, and acceptance criteria.
• Set recurring backlog grooming cadence (e.g., biweekly) and invite product, customer success, and key customer SMEs.
• Produce release notes and user communications for the next planned update and schedule any required training sessions.
• Establish an explicit current-state statement and quantify the consequences that motivated the pilot.
• Demonstrate with pilot data that the platform delivers the defined future-state outcomes.
• Obtain explicit customer validation or documented gaps for each success signal.
• Agree on the recommended next step (full rollout, phased expansion, or remediation) and required preconditions.
• Vendor to deliver a one-page Pilot Findings brief mapping each agreed success signal to evidence from pilot data.
• Customer to confirm or correct the single-sentence Current State and Future State statements in writing.
• If gaps exist, create a prioritized remediation list with owners and acceptance criteria before sign-off.
• Data Migration Status
• Validate data migration completeness and identify any critical data quality blockers.
• Confirm integrations are stable or have mitigation paths documented for go-live.
• Agree on a clear rollout approach (big-bang, phased by department, or hybrid) with timelines.
• Assign owners for outstanding readiness items with deadlines.
• Create and share a Data Issues register with severity tags and assigned owners.
• Root Cause & Proposed Fixes
• Prioritization & Sprint/Release Mapping
• KPI & ROI Review
• Integration & Interfaces Health
• Quantified Consequence
• Acceptance Tests & Validation Criteria
• Defined Future State (one sentence)
• Define Acceptance Criteria & QA Plan
• User Onboarding & Training Coverage
• Risk vs Benefit Tradeoffs
• Commercial & Governance Confirmation
• Acceptance Criteria Mapping
• SLA & Escalation Rules
• Diagnosis: Pilot data walk-through
• Rollback & Contingency Controls
• Decision & Signed Authorization
• Timeline & Owner Alignment
• Proof: Live examples mapped to success signals
• Change Management & Communications Plan
• Communications & Release Notes Plan
• Validation & Calibration
• Readiness Decision & Timeline
• Decision & Next Step Recommendation