Starting with what matters most

• Tell me about the top two locations you currently monitor and why they matter to your mission.
• How often do you need new imagery for those sites in typical operations? Options: Multiple times per day, Daily, Several times per week, Weekly, Biweekly or less
• Which image attributes are nonnegotiable for your analysis: spatial resolution, spectral bands, radar capability, or revisit frequency? Options: Spatial resolution, Specific spectral bands, Radar/SAR capability, Revisit frequency, Radiometric calibration
• Describe the roles on your team that act on imagery, who ingests data, who validates analytics, and who approves program decisions. Options: Analysts, GIS engineers, Data engineers, Program managers, Security/compliance reviewers, Other
• When a missed collect or cloudy imagery occurs, who notices first and what operational impacts do you see?
• What single acceptance criterion would make you reject a pilot outright before running it? Options: Minimum spatial resolution not met, Revisit frequency below target, No analytics available, Unacceptable delivery latency, Security restrictions unmet, Other

Where current workflows break down

• If your imagery program failed for 48 hours, what operational gaps would show up first?
• Walk me through a recent incident where image timing or quality led to a suboptimal decision, and what fixed it or did not.
• How long does it take your team from image receipt to specific map layers inside your GIS? Options: Under 1 hour, 1-4 hours, 4-24 hours, 1-3 days, Longer than 3 days
• Which repeated failure causes the most rework for your analysts, for example, cloud cover, geolocation error, or missing bands? Options: Cloud cover, Geolocation error, Missing spectral bands, Image artifacts, Late delivery, Other
• How many full-time equivalents are typically pulled into troubleshooting a late or unusable delivery, measured in FTE hours per week? Options: <5 hours, 5-20 hours, 20-80 hours, 80+ hours
• What single technical blocker would make you stop a new collection partnership before pilot starts? Options: No API access, Unresolvable security constraints, Insufficient revisit, Unclear data rights, Other

Cloud, revisit, and coverage — what keeps you awake

• Consider your high-priority AOIs, to what degree does cloud cover or seasonal weather regularly prevent useful captures? Options: Major constraint year-round, Seasonal constraint for a few months, Intermittent but manageable, Rarely an issue
• How many revisit windows per week do you require over your highest priority AOIs to meet operational needs? Options: Multiple times per day, Daily, 3-6 times per week, 1-2 times per week, Less than once per week
• Do you accept partial coverage when cloud prevents full AOI capture, or do you require full AOI footprints for each delivery? Options: Partial coverage acceptable, Require full AOI coverage, Depends on AOI and use case
• Walk me through the target types where radar would be essential rather than optical, and why that matters for your outputs.
• Which AOI shapes or sizes in your portfolio cause the most collection difficulty, for example, linear infrastructure, narrow corridors, or very large polygons? Options: Linear corridors, Scattered small AOIs, Very large continuous AOIs, Complex coastal shapes, Other
• If average cloud cover stayed above your tolerance for two weeks during a pilot, would you pause the pilot, reduce scope, or continue collecting for longer? Options: Pause pilot, Reduce scope, Continue and extend duration, Proceed without change

Quality checks that actually matter

• Name the image defect that forces you to discard a scene immediately. Options: Severe cloud cover, Blurring from motion, Incorrect georeferencing, Missing bands, Radiometric corruption, Other
• Which analytics outputs must be delivered in the pilot to consider it a technical success, for example, change masks, object counts, or vegetation indices? Options: Change detection masks, Object detection/classification, Vegetation indices/time series, Volume or area change metrics, Custom analytics, None required
• How do you validate analytics accuracy today, who provides ground truth, and how often is it updated?
• In your last analytics validation exercise, what percent of automated detections required manual correction? Options: <5%, 5-15%, 15-30%, 30-50%, >50%
• Describe the maximum delivery latency you can tolerate for routine monitoring use cases, in hours. Options: <1 hour, 1-4 hours, 4-12 hours, 12-24 hours, 24+ hours
• If imagery met spatial specifications but analytics fell 30 percent short of your accuracy target, would you continue the engagement, require remediation, or stop? Options: Continue with remediation plan, Require second pilot, Stop engagement, Other

Who signs, who builds, and who slows things down

• Who on your side must sign technical acceptance before production can begin, and what approvals do they need?
• Give a headcount estimate for the engineers or integrators your organization will commit to API and GIS setup during the pilot. Options: 0 (no internal support), 1-2 people, 3-5 people, 6-10 people, 10+ people
• Which internal groups must be consulted for security, legal, or data access approvals? Options: Security/InfoSec, Legal/compliance, IT/network, Procurement, Program management, Other
• What specific credential management or endpoint restrictions do you currently enforce that could block our standard integration? Options: IP whitelisting, No public internet egress, MFA on service accounts, Private peering only, SFTP only, Other
• If your security team requires an on-site review, how many calendar days would that add to your onboarding timeline? Options: No on-site review required, 7-14 days, 15-30 days, 30-60 days, 60+ days
• Is there any contractual, regulatory, or budgetary requirement that would prevent you from moving forward even if the pilot succeeds? Options: Yes, No, Unsure

Alternatives you are actively weighing

• Who else are you actively considering to solve this monitoring need, including internal build options? Options: Other commercial providers, Incumbent vendor, Internal engineering team, Open data sources, No alternatives under consideration, Other
• For each alternative you named, what would have to be true for you to stay with it rather than run a pilot with a new provider?
• Which of the following approaches have you evaluated recently: archive access, new tasking, subscription monitoring, or building internal collection? Options: Archive access, New tasking, Subscription monitoring, Building internal collection, Not evaluated yet
• Who inside your organization is the strongest advocate for an internal build instead of buying, and what trade-offs do they highlight?
• What would have to change about your current approach for you to consider switching in the next 6 months?
• If the pilot reaches your acceptance numbers, what internal approval or budget barrier could still block a signed contract? Options: Budget not available, Procurement timeline, Security clearance delay, Competing priorities, None obvious

Practical readiness: systems, data, and compliance

• List the system dependencies that must be resolved before integration can begin.
• Which GIS platforms, data warehouses, or analysis tools must receive imagery and do you have documented APIs for them? Options: Enterprise GIS (GeoServer/ArcGIS), Cloud data warehouse, On-prem GIS, Custom analysis stack, None of the above
• Who owns API keys, credentials, and network access, and who is authorized to approve provisioning?
• Do you have network or ingestion constraints such as VPN, private peering, or SFTP only for large scene files? Options: Public internet allowed, VPN required, Private peering required, SFTP only, Other
• Estimate the storage required for pilot data in terabytes and the retention window you will need. Options: <1 TB, 30 days, 1-5 TB, 90 days, 5-20 TB, 6-12 months, 20+ TB, 12+ months
• Are there export controls, classification requirements, or legal reviews that must be cleared before we can deliver imagery or analytics? Options: Yes, export controls, Yes, classification restrictions, Yes, legal review required, No restrictions known, Unsure
• If any of these readiness items cannot be met within 30 days, would you prefer to delay the pilot or proceed with a reduced scope? Options: Delay pilot, Proceed with reduced scope, Proceed and resolve in parallel, Unsure

Success criteria and next steps

• If the pilot reached every technical benchmark, what organizational approvals would be required to scale to production?
• Select the measurable signals you will use to declare pilot success. Options: Revisit frequency met, Spatial resolution met, Percent cloud-free, Analytics precision, Delivery latency, API/GIS integration pass, Retention and storage met
• What numeric targets correspond to those signals, for example, revisit 3 times per day, cloud-free 80 percent, analytics precision 90 percent? Please list each signal and target.
• Who will sign the go or no-go decision and within how many business days after pilot completion should that decision be made? Options: Program manager signs, 5 business days, CTO/Head of Engineering signs, 10 business days, Procurement signs, 15 business days, Other
• If targets are missed by up to 10 percent, are you willing to accept remediation followed by a second validation run? Options: Yes, remediation then re-test, Yes, but only with clear remediation plan, No, would require contract rework, Unsure
• What is your target procurement timeline after a successful pilot, assuming internal approvals proceed normally? Options: Immediately (within 2 weeks), 1-2 months, 3-6 months, Longer than 6 months, Unsure
• Assuming the pilot proves the required numbers, what is the fastest realistic date your budget holder could sign a contract?

• Solution Walkthrough — Sensors, Revisit, Analytics

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated sensor mix and revisit cadence eliminate the monitoring gaps you described.
• Provide a prioritized AOI list, two representative scenarios, and your acceptance thresholds for resolution, revisit, and latency.
• You confirm the sample analytics outputs meet your detection and accuracy expectations and can be delivered into your GIS within acceptable latency.
• Map your AOIs to sensor and revisit options
• Deliver a sample imagery package and analytics run over the provided AOIs, including measured latency and metadata, within 5 business days.
• You agree on the remaining evidence and acceptance criteria required to run a pilot.
• Run two sample scenario proofs over your AOIs
• Provide API or GIS endpoint details and any ingest format constraints needed for integration testing.
• Confirm delivery and integration pathway
• Confirm pilot timing window and identify pilot owners and review criteria.
• Validate the fit

• Solution Walkthrough — Sensors, Revisit, Analytics
• Solution Walkthrough Deck
• Solution Brief

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• Deliver archive imagery in GeoTIFF/COG formats
• Task new optical or SAR collection
• Activate daily/sub-daily monitoring subscription
• Deliver change-detection analytics
• Deliver object detection and classification layers
• Provide vegetation index (NDVI) and crop-stress maps
• Deliver time-series analysis and trend exports
• Deliver SAR imagery and coherence products
• Provide API data feed for GIS integration
• Deliver NITF-formatted imagery packages
• Provide sample imagery packages for validation
• Expedite tasking with fast-delivery SLA

Deliver archive imagery in GeoTIFF/COG formats

• List the AOIs (Area of Interest) to include in archive delivery and provide CRS and polygon file format for each (GeoJSON, KML, shapefile)
• Indicate the file format requirement: GeoTIFF, cloud-optimized GeoTIFF (COG), or both Options: GeoTIFF, COG (Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF), Both
• Specify the maximum ground sample distance (GSD) in meters acceptable for archive tiles
• Provide the maximum cloud-cover percentage per archive scene acceptable for your automated processing Options: 0-10%, 10-30%, 30-50%, No preference
• How long should archive imagery be retained and to which destination should we deliver (S3 bucket ARN, FTP path, or portal project ID)?
• Who is the owning contact for archive ingestion and what access method will you supply (IAM role ARN, S3 presigned credentials, SFTP user)?

Task new optical or SAR collection

• How many target AOIs require new tasking and what are the average and maximum AOI sizes in square kilometers Options: Single small AOI (<1 km²), Multiple small AOIs, Large AOIs (1-100+ km²)
• Indicate preferred sensor modality per AOI: optical multispectral or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Options: Optical multispectral, SAR (radar), Either — specify per AOI
• For tasking, describe required revisit cadence per AOI (hours between collects) and any seasonal windows
• Specify the maximum tasking-to-delivery latency you require (hours from acquisition to data delivery) Options: <6 hours, 6-24 hours, 24-72 hours, >72 hours
• Describe tasking constraints to observe such as off-nadir angle limits, SAR polarization needs, or sun-glint avoidance
• Who will approve tasking requests and which submission method will you use (REST API job, portal tasking UI, or signed email authorization)? Options: REST API job, Portal tasking UI, Signed email authorization, Other

Activate daily/sub-daily monitoring subscription

• List AOIs you want enrolled in monitoring and provide expected monitoring windows (local hours or UTC ranges) for each AOI
• Indicate required delivery cadence for monitoring: sub-daily (multiple/day) or daily Options: Sub-daily (multiple per day), Daily
• Specify the minimum percent of each AOI that must be covered per revisit for a collect to be considered successful Options: >95%, >75%, >50%, No minimum
• What analytics products must be included in the subscription for these AOIs (select all that apply) Options: Change detection, NDVI / vegetation indices, Object detection / classification, Time-series exports, SAR coherence / interferometry
• How should monitoring outputs be delivered: push API webhook, S3 bucket with prefixes, or portal notification with download links Options: Push API (webhook), S3 bucket (provide ARN/path), Secure portal download, Email with link
• Who is the operational incident contact for missed revisits and what SLA escalation timeline do you prefer for missed-collect alerts Options: 1 hour, 4 hours, 24 hours, Custom

Deliver change-detection analytics

• Which change types are highest priority in your AOIs (construction, vegetation loss, surface-water change, vessel movement) and give examples Options: Construction / built-up change, Vegetation loss / deforestation, Surface-water extent change, Vessel movement / maritime
• Indicate the sensitivity threshold for change detection you require (percent area change or minimum object size in m²)
• For baseline comparisons, specify the baseline period or method (single historic scene date, multi-month median, or seasonal baseline) and provide dates
• Select the change output formats you need: vector change polygons (GeoJSON), raster change masks (COG), or tabular change reports (CSV) with confidence fields Options: Vector change polygons (GeoJSON), Raster change mask (COG), Tabular change report (CSV), All of the above
• What acceptance evidence will validate change-detection accuracy against your ground truth (for example: precision/recall thresholds or labeled test set metrics)

Deliver object detection and classification layers

• Which object classes do you require (for example: vehicles, shipping containers, utility poles, buildings) and provide label definitions or example imagery if available
• Specify minimum detection confidence threshold and any required intersection-over-union (IoU) metric for object footprints Options: Confidence >0.5, Confidence >0.7, Custom threshold and IoU
• Select preferred output type for object detections: polygon footprints, centroid points with attributes, or both Options: Polygons with attributes, Centroid points with attributes, Both
• For SAR-based detection, indicate required polarization or coherence products to assist classification Options: Single polarization, Dual polarization, Coherence maps, Not required
• Who will supply labeled examples or verification data for uncommon object classes and how will you share training/validation sets (S3 path, secure upload link)?

Provide vegetation index (NDVI) and crop-stress maps

• For which AOIs/field IDs do you require NDVI and what temporal aggregation is needed (daily, weekly median, biweekly) Options: Daily, Weekly median, Biweekly, Custom
• Indicate NDVI threshold values that your operations use to flag crop stress and list crop types covered
• Specify which spectral bands or sensor features are necessary for your indices (for example red-edge band for certain crops)
• Select the NDVI delivery format you need: raster COG tiles, per-field CSV statistics, or an interactive map layer with per-field attributes Options: Raster COG tiles, Per-field CSV statistics, Interactive map layer, Combination
• Provide details of ground-truth surveys you will supply for NDVI validation (format, sample size, collection dates)

Deliver time-series analysis and trend exports

• List AOIs or field IDs that require time-series exports and provide the start and end dates for the export range
• What temporal resolution for time series do you require (daily, weekly, monthly) Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Custom
• Select the metrics to include in trend exports (NDVI, surface reflectance bands, cloud fraction, change flags) Options: NDVI, Surface reflectance (bands), Cloud fraction, Change flags, Other
• How should missing data and cloud gaps be handled in the time series (interpolate, flag as null, or gap-fill using nearest clear scene) Options: Interpolate, Flag as null, Gap-fill using nearest clear scene, Custom method
• Who will own ingestion of time-series exports into your analytics pipeline and what destination endpoint should we push to (S3 path, database table, or API endpoint)?

Deliver SAR imagery and coherence products

• Which SAR product types do you require for your AOIs: single-look complex (SLC), ground-range detected (GRD), or coherence maps Options: SLC (single-look complex), GRD (ground-range detected), Coherence maps, Other
• Indicate acceptable temporal and spatial baselines for interferometric coherence analyses for your monitoring use cases
• Which polarization channels are required for each AOI (for example HH, HV, VV, VH) Options: HH, HV, VV, VH, Combination required
• Specify incidence angle or look-direction constraints you want the acquisition planning to respect
• Provide any regulatory or export constraints, encryption requirements, or region restrictions for SAR data storage and transfer (for example encrypted S3, region-limited buckets)

Provide API data feed for GIS integration

• Select preferred API delivery method: REST pull endpoints, push webhooks, S3 notifications, or a combination Options: REST pull API, Push webhooks, S3 notifications, Combination
• Which authentication method will your integration endpoint accept: API key, OAuth2, or mutual TLS (mTLS) Options: API key, OAuth2, mTLS, Other
• List the GIS layers and layer names you want populated and the target coordinate reference system (CRS) for each
• What latency target do you require from image acquisition to API availability for downstream GIS display (hours) Options: <1 hour, <6 hours, <24 hours, Custom
• What acceptance test will confirm API/GIS integration success (for example: automated ingest of a sample COG into your GIS and visible tiles within X hours)
• Provide example request/response schema or attach expected payloads (GeoJSON properties, presigned URL fields) for our integration team

Deliver NITF-formatted imagery packages

• Specify which AOIs require NITF packaging and state required NITF version and mandatory header tags
• Indicate whether embedded RPCs (rational polynomial coefficients) and full metadata are required in NITF headers Options: Embed RPCs and full metadata, Partial metadata, Not required
• Select acceptable compression schemes inside NITF packages (lossless, lossy, or no compression) Options: Lossless, Lossy, No preference
• How should NITF packages be delivered: single archive per AOI, per-collect package, or daily batched archives Options: Per-collect package, Per-AOI archive, Daily batches, Custom schedule
• Who will validate NITF ingest on your side and what sample NITF test cases should we produce for your QA process

Provide sample imagery packages for validation

• List AOIs and date ranges to include in the sample imagery package for your technical evaluation
• Select sensor modalities and processing levels to include in samples (orthorectified, atmospherically corrected, pansharpened) Options: Orthorectified, Atmospherically corrected, Pansharpened, Raw Level-1
• What file formats should sample packages contain to validate your ingest pipeline (COG, GeoTIFF, NITF) Options: COG, GeoTIFF, NITF, Multiple formats
• What measurable acceptance criteria will you use to validate sample imagery (for example: cloud-free >90% over AOI, GSD <= X m, geolocation error <= Y meters)
• How should sample packages be delivered for evaluation (preloaded S3 with access, portal download link, or physical encrypted drive) and which do you prefer Options: Preloaded S3 with access, Portal download link, Physical encrypted drive, Other
• Who on your team will run the sample validation and what reporting format do you prefer (checklist, test report, or automated ingest logs) Options: Checklist, Test report, Automated ingest logs, Other

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• Subscription Agreement
• Order Form
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Pricing Schedule — Archive vs Tasking
• Data License Agreement
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Security & Access Addendum
• Regulatory & Procurement Addendum (conditional)
• Acceptance Criteria & Go/No-Go Annex
• Tasking Order (per-collect confirmation)
• Data Retention & Offboarding Addendum

• Go-live health check
• First measurement review
• Operational realization review (post-pilot)
• Quarterly operational review

• Confirm the next-review date and whether the next check will be a live meeting or an async update based on operational stability.
• Confirm that analytics precision and API uptime are stable within the ranges expected from Pilot Evaluation or document required fixes.
• Reduce the critical open-issue count with clear owners and dates for closure.
• Ensure buyer teams are actively using the delivered feeds at the expected weekly active user rate.
• Publish a 90-day operational summary with metric trends, incident log, and outstanding remediation items.
• Enable or update monitoring dashboards and alerts for delivery latency, API errors, and analytics drift.
• Assign closure dates for all critical open tickets and confirm the shared issue channel for ongoing requests.
• Operational KPIs and SLA adherence
• Validate that delivery latency, revisit compliance, and API uptime continue to meet the operational expectations from Pilot Evaluation.
• Ensure the backlog of enhancement requests is prioritized and owners are assigned for the highest-impact items.
• Confirm the next-quarter monitoring thresholds and reporting format for ongoing performance tracking.
• Publish the quarterly KPI dashboard and a short narrative explaining any deviations from targets.
• Create work orders for the top-priority enhancement requests with delivery windows and acceptance criteria.
• Re-confirm success criteria and owners
• Confirm that data feeds are active and sample files are successfully ingested into the buyer's endpoints.
• Produce a prioritized list of deployment defects with owners and committed resolution dates.
• Ensure at least one buyer user can run the intended analytics workflow end-to-end.
• Publish a deployment validation report showing feed status, sample ingest logs, and access confirmations.
• Log and assign remediation tasks for all critical blockers with target resolution dates within the first 14 days.
• Provide buyer with a short how-to for verifying ingest and viewing delivered GeoTIFF/COG files in their GIS.
• Present measured metrics vs Pilot Evaluation targets
• Determine whether delivery latency and revisit frequency are on track to meet Pilot Evaluation targets or require remediation.
• Document root causes for any shortfalls in analytics accuracy and agree concrete corrective actions.
• Confirm timeline and next checkpoint for validating the effectiveness of corrective actions.
• Provide a CSV export of delivery timestamps and ingest logs for the reviewed AOIs covering the measurement window.
• Schedule an adjustment to collection cadence or sensor mix for specified AOIs to address missed revisit targets.
• Deliver a labeled sample set for analytics re-evaluation and record updated precision/recall after fixes.
• 90-day trend of key metrics
• Deployment and integration validation
• Incident and ticket burn-down
• Persistent issues and risk review
• Analytics accuracy sample review
• Enhancement requests and prioritization
• Root-cause diagnosis for any gaps
• Early adoption and usage signals
• Adoption and operational usage
• Agree corrective actions and timeline
• Agree persistent remediation and monitoring actions
• Agree next quarter operational checklist
• Open issues and immediate blockers
• Agree short-term remediation plan