Start Here: Who's in the Room (and What Keeps You Up at Night)

• Quick intro — what is your job title and the team you represent? Options: PLM Administrator, Director of Engineering IT, VP of Engineering, CAD Manager, Design Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Quality Manager, IT Ops, Procurement, Program Manager, Other
• Which functions does your role regularly collaborate with on PLM/CAD issues? Options: Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, IT/SysAdmin, Procurement, Program Management, Suppliers/Partners, Other
• How long have you been responsible for PLM/CAD integrations or the related processes? Options: Less than 6 months, 6–12 months, 1–3 years, 3–5 years, 5+ years
• In one sentence, what is the single biggest frustration you have with your current CAD↔PLM state?
• How would you prefer we work together during discovery and evaluation? Options: Hands-on demo with engineers, Executive summary + tech deep-dive, Pilot in a sandbox environment, Workshop with cross-functional team, Other

Who's Really Pulling the Trigger (and Who Will Block It)?

• If this integration consumes budget and leadership attention, who ultimately signs off and who can veto it? Options: VP of Engineering, CIO/Head of IT, Procurement/Finance, Program Sponsor, PLM Vendor Representative, Other
• Who is the single person we should treat as the primary sponsor for this project?
• Which stakeholders require formal approval before a purchase or pilot can start? Options: Procurement, Security/IT Architecture, Legal, Finance, Engineering Leadership, Plant/Operations, Other
• What are the non-negotiable criteria that the approvers will use to say yes?
• Who will be accountable for operational ownership after deployment (day-to-day), and do they currently have capacity? Options: PLM Administrator, CAD Manager, IT Ops, Dev/Ops Team, No clear owner yet, Other
• Describe any recent procurement or internal politics that could speed up or slow down a decision.

Why Engineers Would Walk Away — Let’s Call It Out

• What precise aspects of previous PLM/CAD integrations caused engineers to route around the PLM? Options: Extra clicks on save, Latency on save, Loss of local workflow context, Complex check-in dialogs, Incomplete BOM transfer, Version-lock errors, Other
• How often do engineers currently save files outside PLM or keep local copies? Options: Almost always, Frequently, Sometimes, Rarely, Never / unknown
• What is the maximum extra latency (in seconds) on a save operation your engineers will tolerate before it becomes unacceptable? Options: <0.5s, 0.5–1s, 1–3s, 3–5s, >5s / unacceptable
• Tell us about a recent situation where an engineer’s workaround caused rework, quality issues, or failed audits.
• Who enforces PLM compliance day-to-day and what tools or reports do they use? Options: PLM Admin dashboards, Manual audits, Quality audits, Manager spot-checks, None / informal

If This Integration Fails, What Actually Breaks?

• What are the tangible business impacts you worry about if engineers keep bypassing the PLM? Options: Delayed releases, Manufacturing errors, Non-compliance with audits, Rework and scrap, Loss of IP control, Customer quality issues, Other
• Which metrics or KPIs would you use to prove the project failed (or succeeded)? Options: Percent files in PLM, Save latency, BOM automation rate, Revision mismatch rate, Number of engineering exceptions, Time-to-release
• How frequently do quality audits or compliance checks find issues tied to missing or stale CAD data? Options: Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, Rarely, Never / unknown
• Share an incident where PLM gaps caused a missed delivery or costly correction — what happened and what was the fallout?

Environment Reality Check: Versions, Middleware, and Constraints

• Which CAD products are actively used in your organization today (select all that apply)? Options: Creo, NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Inventor, Altium Designer, OrCAD/Allegro, Other
• Please list the major CAD versions or release ranges currently in use (or paste from an asset list).
• Which PLM platform(s) do you use and are any in active upgrade/migration plans? Options: PTC Windchill, Siemens Teamcenter, Dassault ENOVIA, Aras Innovator, Oracle Agile, SAP PLM, Other
• Do you have any existing middleware, enterprise service bus, or integration platform we must work with? Options: Yes — specify in next box, No, Unsure / need to check
• Are there environment constraints (air-gapped plants, restricted installs, specific OS or admin policies) we should know about?
• Who manages CAD/PLM version upgrades and who is the point of contact for environment access? Options: PLM Admin, CAD Manager, IT Ops, External SI/Partner, Other

What 'Invisible PLM' Actually Means to Each Person

• If 'invisible PLM' succeeded here, what would the PLM Admin, the Design Engineer, and the Manufacturing Engineer each see different in their day-to-day work?
• Which success signals matter most to your stakeholders? Rank or select the top signals. Options: Save latency < X seconds, Percent of files auto-checked-in, Automated BOM fidelity, No workflow interruptions, Accurate revision control, Background check-in reliability, Low support requests
• For each stakeholder group, what acceptance criteria (behavioral or metric) would convince them the integration is acceptable?
• What cultural or incentive barriers might make some stakeholders resist an 'invisible' approach (e.g., fear of losing control, audit concerns)? Options: Fear of losing revision control, Audit/regulatory requirements, Comfort with manual workarounds, Lack of trust in automation, Other
• What SLAs, notifications, or rollback controls do stakeholders demand before trusting background check-in and automated BOM transfers? Options: Immediate rollback option, Detailed audit trail, Email/Slack alerts on failures, Daily reconciliation report, Manual override capability, Other

Timeline, Commitments, and Safe Failures — Who’s Committed to What?

• If we started a pilot tomorrow, what is your ideal timeline to see a working demo in your environment? Options: 1–2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, 2–3 months, Longer / TBD
• What are the non-negotiable go/no-go criteria for a pilot to be considered successful?
• Which rollback or escalation paths must be in place before your team will permit a pilot on production or staging systems? Options: Immediate rollback to previous state, Isolated sandbox only, IT/PLM approval per change, Formal escalation to CIO/VP Eng, Other
• Who will allocate engineering time for pilot support and roughly how many engineer-hours per week can be committed? Options: <5 hrs/week, 5–10 hrs/week, 10–20 hrs/week, 20+ hrs/week, TBD
• What date or event (audit, release, budget cycle) would make this project a priority to complete by?
• What would be the one thing we could do in a first pilot to make you feel confident this is worth scaling?

Starting Line: Tell Us About Your Current Setup

• Which single CAD tool does the primary engineering team use today? Options: SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Fusion 360, Onshape, Altium Designer, OrCAD/Allegro, Other
• Which PLM platform is your organization currently running as the system of record? Options: PTC Windchill, Siemens Teamcenter, Dassault ENOVIA, Aras Innovator, Oracle Agile PLM, Siemens Opcenter, Custom / Homegrown, Other, Unsure
• Which other CAD tools or ECAD tools are actively used across teams (select all that apply)? Options: SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360, Onshape, Altium Designer, OrCAD/Allegro, Other
• Roughly how many active designers/engineers produce CAD files that should land in PLM? Options: 1–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 500+
• Who currently administers your PLM and CAD integrations (role/title)? Options: PLM Administrator, Director of Engineering IT, CAD Manager, DevOps/Infrastructure, Engineering Manager, Third-party consultant, Other
• Briefly describe whether your CAD and PLM environments are cloud, on-premises, or hybrid and any hosting constraints we should know about.

Are Engineers Quietly Voting With Their Files?

• How often are designers saving or working from local drives or network shares instead of checking changes into PLM? Options: Almost always, Often (weekly), Occasionally (monthly), Rarely, Never / unsure
• Where do files most commonly end up when they bypass PLM? (select all that apply) Options: Local desktop, Shared network drive, Personal cloud storage (Dropbox/OneDrive), USB/portable drives, Email attachments, Other
• When engineers choose the local route, what are the top reasons they give or you observe? Options: Save/check-in adds too many steps, Save latency slows workflow, PLM UI is confusing, Version conflicts, BOM mapping fails, Lack of trust in PLM data, Other
• Estimate the percentage of active product designs that are fully current in PLM versus those with more recent local versions not in PLM. Options: 0–10%, 11–30%, 31–50%, 51–75%, 76–100%, Unsure
• Tell a short story of a recent time an engineer bypassed PLM — what led up to it and what happened next?

When the System Fails, Who Notices First?

• What are the concrete failure modes you observe when CAD and PLM aren’t integrated well? Choose all that apply. Options: Out-of-date files in PLM, Incorrect/partial BOM transfer, Lost relationships between assemblies and parts, Revision drift, Audit failures, Blocked releases, Other
• How are these failures usually detected (audits, customer complaints, build failures, daily ops)? Options: Internal quality audit, Assembly/build errors, Manufacturing rejects, Engineer report, PLM reports, Customer claim, Other
• How often do these failure modes occur today? Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely, Unsure
• What measurable business impacts have you tied to these failures (e.g., days delayed, scrap costs, rework hours, failed audits)?
• Who winds up owning the remediation when a failure happens (role/team), and how long does a typical fix take? Options: PLM Admin, CAD Team, Manufacturing/Operations, QA, Cross-functional task force, Other

If Saving a File Felt Invisible, What Would Change?

• Imagine saves and check-ins happened in the background — which outcome would matter most to you right away? Options: Higher percent of active designs in PLM, Fewer assembly/build failures, Faster release cycles, Improved BOM fidelity, Reduced audit findings, Other
• What specific acceptance thresholds would convince you the integration is successful? (pick all that apply) Options: Save latency < 2s, Background check-in success rate > 95%, Percent of designs in PLM > 90%, Automated BOM fidelity > 98%, Zero untracked revisions, Other
• Which metrics does your leadership care about when evaluating PLM success (ranked priority in a short list)? Options: User adoption, Data accuracy, Time-to-release, Number of manual BOM entries, Audit pass rate, Support/maintenance cost
• What would it feel like day-to-day for engineers if PLM participation truly became invisible? Describe behaviors and morale changes you’d expect.

What Would Break the Integration Before It Starts?

• If there’s one technical or organizational roadblock that will doom an integration project here, what do you think it is? Options: Version compatibility mismatches, Lack of test environments, Security/compliance constraints, Network/firewall restrictions, No clear owner, Cultural resistance from engineers, Other
• Which CAD and PLM software versions are in production and must be supported during evaluation and rollout?
• Are there any middleware, custom scripts, or homegrown connectors currently in place that we must integrate with or replace? Options: Yes – middleware in use, Yes – custom scripts/connectors, No, Unsure
• What security, change-control, or compliance policies must an integration respect (e.g., IP protections, audit trails, RBAC models)?
• Describe any bandwidth/latency constraints or network segmentation that could interfere with background saves or synchronous API calls.

Who Needs to Say Yes — And What Will They Care About?

• If we present a working demo, which stakeholders must sign off for the project to proceed to pilot and deployment? (select all) Options: PLM Admin, Director of Engineering IT, VP Engineering, Manufacturing/Operations Lead, Quality Assurance, Security/Compliance, Procurement, Other
• For each stakeholder you selected, what is their top success criterion (e.g., reduced audit findings, no new support burden, measurable time savings)?
• Who will be responsible for running and evaluating acceptance tests during the pilot? Options: PLM Admin, CAD Supervisors, QA Team, Third-party integrator, Combined team
• What timeline does procurement and leadership expect for evaluation → pilot → production decisions? Options: 2–4 weeks, 1–3 months, 3–6 months, 6+ months, Unsure
• Who will be the day-to-day contact for troubleshooting and change requests during the pilot?

Show Us the Worst Case — Walk Through a Real Example

• Tell us about a recent CAD-to-PLM incident that caused downstream pain — what was the root cause and consequence?
• Can you provide a sample CAD file and its current BOM (anonymized if needed) that reproduces the issue? Options: Yes – ready to share, Yes – after approval, No sample available, Unsure
• What steps recreate the problem from an engineer’s perspective? List exact actions and where they break.
• What would be an acceptable fix for that specific incident (e.g., automated BOM mapping, maintained relationships, instant revision update)?

How Do You Want Us to Prove It Works?

• Which CAD+PLM combination must we demo during evaluation to get your stakeholders comfortable?
• Which specific engineer workflows must remain uninterrupted in the demo (select all that apply)? Options: Save during active modeling, Background auto-checkin, Assembly BOM generation, Part renaming/moving, Revision creation/release, Other
• What acceptance tests would you like executed during the demo/pilot (pick all that apply)? Options: Save latency measurement, Background check-in success rate, BOM transfer accuracy, Revision control integrity, Conflict resolution behavior, Other
• How will you measure pass/fail for each acceptance test (give thresholds or criteria)?
• Would you prefer a remote demo with your data or an on-site session in your environment? Options: Remote with sample data, Remote with customer data, On-site in customer environment, Hybrid

Readiness: What Must Be In Place Before We Deploy?

• Do you have a non-production/test environment that mirrors production for CAD+PLM where we can validate the connector? Options: Yes – fully mirrored, Partial test environment, No test environment, Unsure
• What accounts/permissions will we need for evaluation and pilot (list service accounts, admin roles, VPN requirements)?
• Do you require code signing, SOC/ISO evidence, or other security artifacts before software can be installed in your environment? Options: Yes – detailed security review, Basic evidence sufficient, No special requirements, Unsure
• Who will be the owner for rollback and escalation during deployment and what is the expected response SLA?
• What is your preferred window for doing smoke tests and pilot deployments (e.g., after hours, weekends, specific release freeze windows)? Options: Business hours, After hours, Weekends, During scheduled maintenance window, Other

Commitment & Next Steps — Can We Move the Dial?

• If a demo meets your acceptance tests, who has authority to approve a pilot and what commercial steps follow? Options: PLM Admin, VP Engineering, Procurement, IT Security, Other
• What level of commercial commitment timeline would feel reasonable to you after a successful pilot (pick one)? Options: Immediate procurement, Purchase after internal review, Pilot extension before purchase, Unsure
• What ongoing support expectations do you have post-deployment (SLA response times, version-compatibility guarantees, managed updates)? Options: 24/7 critical SLA, Business hours support, On-call as-needed, Managed upgrades included, Other
• What would you list as the top three remaining risks we should address before moving forward?
• Are you ready to schedule a technical discovery/demo within the next: Options: This week, Next 2 weeks, Next month, Later / need more info
• Any final notes, requirements, or constraints we should log before we prepare a tailored evaluation plan?

Quick hello — who are we partnering with today?

• What's your primary role and how do you spend most of your week? Options: PLM Administrator, Director of Engineering IT, CAD Manager, Engineer (Mechanical), Engineer (Electrical), Product Manager, Other
• Which CAD and PLM products does your team actively use today? (pick all that apply) Options: PTC Creo, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, Altium Designer, OrCAD/Eagle, Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Dassault ENOVIA, Aras Innovator, Other
• Roughly how many engineers and how many distinct CAD seats are in scope for this initiative?
• If you could summarize the single biggest reason you agreed to this conversation right now, what would it be?

Are engineers quietly choosing their desktops over the PLM?

• How true is the statement: "A meaningful portion of design work remains on local drives because check-in is too disruptive"? Options: Completely true, Mostly true, Somewhat true, Not true
• Can you give one or two recent examples where engineers bypassed PLM? What happened and who noticed it?
• How often does this happen: engineers saving locally instead of using PLM (estimate percent of days or projects affected)? Options: >50% of projects, 25–50% of projects, 10–25% of projects, <10% of projects
• When engineers choose local files, what emotions or frustrations do you think are driving that behavior (from their perspective)? Options: Speed/latency, Workflow interruptions (clicks/context-switching), Version confusion, Poor integration with BOMs, Lack of trust in PLM metadata, Other
• How long has this been an issue in your organization? Options: Less than 6 months, 6–12 months, 1–2 years, More than 2 years

What exactly in the CAD → PLM flow is quietly failing us?

• Which failure modes matter most to you right now (pick up to three)? Options: Files not checked into PLM, Out-of-date designs in PLM, Manual BOM re-entry, Incorrect part revisions, Lost change history, Duplicate items in PLM, Other
• Describe a recent incident where BOM data didn't match between CAD and PLM — what was the downstream impact?
• How measurable are these failures today—do you track percent of files in PLM, failed BOM mappings, or audit exceptions? Options: We track all of these, We track some, We only have anecdotal data, No measurement currently
• Who typically discovers these mismatches first (engineers, QA, PLM admin, manufacturing), and how long before they’re visible? Options: Engineers, Quality/Audit team, PLM Admin, Manufacturing/Production, Other
• If you had to name the single most common workaround engineers use, what is it and why does it persist?

How 'invisible' must invisible PLM feel to your engineers?

• What maximum save latency (per file save) would still feel 'invisible' for your engineers? Options: <0.2 seconds, 0.2–0.5 seconds, 0.5–1.0 seconds, 1–2 seconds, >2 seconds
• What percentage of design saves, check-ins, or releases must be automated for you to call the integration successful? Options: >95%, 90–95%, 75–90%, <75%
• Which BOM fidelity metrics define success for you (select all that apply)? Options: Field-level fidelity (properties/metadata), Structural fidelity (assembly/tree), Part-level identifiers match PLM, Quantities and units accurate, Lifecycle/Revision mapping correct
• Beyond raw numbers, how will you know the integration is accepted—what behaviors will change in day-to-day work?
• What would be a non-negotiable acceptance test you'd require during a pilot?

Versions, middleware, and the upgrade battlefield — are we prepared?

• How many CAD versions and how many PLM versions must the connector support at go‑live? Options: Single CAD & single PLM version, Multiple CAD versions / single PLM, Single CAD / multiple PLM versions, Multiple CAD and PLM versions
• List the exact CAD and PLM versions you expect to include in scope (free response — please be specific).
• Do you currently have any middleware, custom adapters, or in‑house scripts that alter CAD/PLM exchange? If yes, where are they used? Options: No custom middleware, Small scripts for metadata, Custom middleware for translations, Third-party adapters, Other
• How do you handle version upgrades today—who owns compatibility testing and timelines?
• If a middleware shim is required for a specific CAD/PLM combo, how comfortable are you with an interim custom component maintained by the vendor? Options: Very comfortable, Somewhat comfortable, Prefer no custom middleware, Need executive approval

Who will lose sleep if this goes wrong — and what do they care about?

• Identify the three stakeholders who must sign off at pilot completion and their top concern (name & concern).
• For each stakeholder (Engineering, PLM Admin, Manufacturing, QA), what does a win look like for them? Please list per stakeholder. Options: Engineering: workflow uninterrupted, PLM Admin: accurate metadata & audits, Manufacturing: correct BOMs & part IDs, QA: traceable revisions, Other
• Who will own day‑to‑day support after deployment (role/team), and who escalates cross‑team issues?
• How will you align incentives so engineers don’t revert to local files when they feel pressure to deliver quickly?
• On a scale from 1–5, how politically risky is a failed pilot to you internally (1 = no risk, 5 = career-impacting)? Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

If we rolled this out tomorrow, what would your ideal pilot look like?

• Would you prefer a narrow, high-impact pilot (small team, full data fidelity) or a broader smoke test (many users, limited scope)? Options: Narrow, full-fidelity pilot, Broader smoke test, Both staged sequentially, Unsure—need guidance
• Which environments must be ready before rollout (pick all that apply)? Options: Dev/test PLM instance, Staging CAD seats, Network/VPN mirroring, CI/CD for adapters, Production sandbox
• Do you have representative test datasets (assemblies, BOMs, ECNs) to validate edge cases? If not, how will they be produced? Options: Representative datasets ready, Need vendor assistance to create datasets, Can anonymize production data, No datasets available
• What rollback and escalation paths must be confirmed before any pilot begins?
• What internal communications or training would you want delivered during pilot kickoff? Options: Engineer-focused demo, Admin/IT runbook, Quick-start job-aid, Weekly status updates, Other

What does a rigorous acceptance checklist look like for you?

• From this list, which acceptance tests are mandatory for pilot sign-off (select all mandatory items)? Options: Save latency within threshold, Background check-in without interrupting CAD session, BOM structure fidelity > X%, Revision control accurate for releases, Automated part creation mapping
• What numerical thresholds would you set for pass/fail on latency, BOM accuracy, and percent of automated check‑ins?
• How would you like pass/fail results documented and who needs to receive the report? Options: Automated test report to stakeholders, Walkthrough with engineering team, Executive summary for leadership, All of the above
• If a single acceptance test fails, what are acceptable remediation steps versus deal-stopping failures?
• Do you require an independent audit or a third‑party validation of acceptance results? Options: Yes, independent audit required, No, internal validation sufficient, Maybe, depending on pilot outcomes

What are the hidden risks you haven’t said aloud?

• Which of these keep you up at night regarding this integration? Options: Unhandled BOM edge cases, Unforeseen custom PLM workflows, Security/compliance with CAD files, Network latency in field offices, Resource availability for testing, Other
• Have you had prior projects where a connector initially worked but failed across upgrades? What went wrong?
• Are there any corporate or regulatory constraints (IP, export control, data residency) that will affect deployment? Options: Yes—IP/confidentiality, Yes—export controls, Yes—data residency, No constraints, Not sure
• If we find an edge case the connector can’t handle, what’s your tolerance for a short-term manual workaround vs delaying launch? Options: Manual workaround acceptable, Delay launch until handled, Case-by-case decision, Need pre-approved escalation
• What internal champions or detractors should we engage early to reduce political friction?

Small commitments that start real change — what are the next steps?

• Which of these next steps would you be willing to commit to in the next 14 days? Options: Provide exact version list and test data, Identify pilot users and owner, Grant temporary test access to a sandbox, Schedule a solution‑experience session, Executive alignment meeting
• Who in your organization can sign off on pilot scope and acceptance criteria, and when are they available?
• What would make you feel confident enough to start a pilot within 30 days?
• If we delivered a short list of recommended pilot configurations, would you prefer that we: (choose one)? Options: Draft and share for approval, Workshop collaboratively, Hand you a checklist to implement, Other
• Finally, what’s the best way for us to work with your team day‑to‑day during discovery (Slack, email, weekly calls, JIRA)? Options: Slack/MS Teams, Email, Weekly video calls, Shared ticketing system (JIRA/ServiceNow), Other

Quick Intro: Who's in the Room and What Do You Need?

• Who are you and what role will you play in this evaluation (title + primary responsibilities)?
• How urgently does this need to move—what is your target decision window? Options: Immediate (0–30 days), Short (1–3 months), This quarter (3–6 months), Longer (6–12 months), No fixed timeline
• Who else must sign off (by role or function)? Select all who influence the go/no-go. Options: PLM Administrator, Director of Engineering IT, VP Engineering, Compliance/Quality, Procurement, IT Infrastructure, CAD Team Lead, Manufacturing/Operations, Other
• Which environments should we consider for the evaluation and eventual rollout (pick all that apply)? Options: On-prem PLM, Cloud PLM, Hybrid (mix of cloud/on‑prem), Engineer workstations on domain, Remote/contractor environments, Air‑gapped lab or secured network, Other
• Who will be the day‑to‑day owner for acceptance testing and signoff? Options: PLM Admin, CAD Team Lead, Release Engineer, Quality Manager, IT Integration Lead, Other

If Engineers Aren't Using PLM, What's the Real Cost?

• How would you describe the business impact of engineering work living off‑PLM—pick the most accurate framing. Options: Quality risks and audit failures, Project delays and rework, Parts/BOM mismatches, Lost IP or traceability, Higher manual labor costs, All of the above, Other
• Which symptoms do you see most often when engineers avoid PLM? (select up to three that matter most) Options: Saving files to local drives, Manual BOM re‑entry, Untracked revisions, Workarounds using shared folders, Shadow forks of design files, Inconsistent metadata, Other
• How frequently do engineers bypass the PLM for routine saves/check‑ins? Options: Almost always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, Unknown
• What proportion of your designs do you estimate are out of date in PLM today? Options: <10%, 10–25%, 25–50%, 50–75%, >75%, Don't know
• Describe a recent incident where PLM avoidance caused a visible business problem (what happened, impact, who was affected).

Where Exactly Does Your Workflow Break Down?

• If you map the end‑to‑end flow from CAD save → PLM check‑in → BOM publish, where do you believe the majority of failures occur? Options: During save/check‑in latency, Metadata mapping errors, Unsupported CAD/PLM versions, Manual BOM reconciliation, Permissions/ACL failures, Other
• Which CAD tools are in active use across teams (select all that apply)? Options: SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360, Altium Designer, OrCAD/Allegro, Solid Edge, Other
• Which PLM systems do you run (select all that apply)? Options: Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Dassault ENOVIA, Aras Innovator, Oracle Agile, SAP PLM, Autodesk Vault, Other
• Please list the exact CAD and PLM versions (or upload a short list) you expect to test—include service packs if known.
• What common workarounds do engineers use today to avoid the check‑in process? (give concrete examples)
• Who typically owns manual BOM entry or correction today? Options: Design engineer, PLM admin, Manufacturing engineering, Dedicated data entry team, No one / ad hoc, Other

How Much Friction Can Your Engineers Tolerate?

• If a save added visible time to an engineer’s workflow, what would be the tipping point for them to stop using PLM entirely? Options: Any added seconds per save, 2–3 seconds, 3–6 seconds, 6–10 seconds, More than 10 seconds
• Does a background check‑in need to be fully invisible within the CAD session, or is a lightweight notification acceptable? Options: Fully invisible required, Light status indicator acceptable, Engineer preference-based, Depends on the team
• Tell us about a time engineers rejected a tool because it felt slow or intrusive—what specifically bothered them?
• How important is preserving the engineer’s native file/folder structure and local workflows to adoption? Options: Mission critical, Very important, Somewhat important, Not important
• What internal benchmarks or SLAs do you currently use to measure responsiveness or tool latency (if any)? Options: Milliseconds range, Seconds range, No formal benchmark, Other

What Would Success Look Like—In Hard Numbers?

• If we had to write three measurable success signals for this project, what would they be (pick up to three)? Options: % of files saved to PLM automatically, Average save latency (seconds), Automated BOM fidelity (%), Reduction in manual BOM entries, Number of audit non‑conformances, Engineer adoption rate, Other
• What target thresholds would make you call the project a success? (give numeric targets or ranges)
• Who will validate each success signal (role or team)? Options: PLM Admin, QA/Compliance, Engineering Team Lead, IT Integration, Project Sponsor, Other
• How will these signals be measured—do you have logs, audits, or reports we should integrate with? Options: PLM audit logs, CAD client logs, Network telemetry, Manual sampling/audits, No current mechanism, Other
• What unacceptable outcomes would cause you to pause or roll back the integration? Options: Data loss risk, Failed BOM mapping, Frequent save timeouts, User productivity drop, Security/compliance breach, Other

Compatibility and Edge Cases That Could Break the Deal

• Which of these version or customization realities describe your environment (pick all that apply)? Options: Multiple CAD versions across teams, Multiple PLM versions or instances, Heavy PLM customizations/workflows, Custom CAD macros/scripts in use, 3rd‑party middleware already present, Strict IT change controls, Other
• Are there known BOM structures or electrical/mechanical edge cases that have failed in past integrations? Options: Multi‑level BOM with phantom parts, Configurable/templated BOMs, ECAD/MCAD cross‑references, Alternate unit of measure issues, Custom attributes not mapped, None known, Other
• Do you foresee needing middleware or custom translation layers to handle version mismatches or customizations? Options: Yes—definitely, Probably, Possibly, Unlikely, No
• Can you provide or create a representative test dataset (CAD files + expected BOM output) for validation? Options: Yes—ready to share, Yes—but needs preparation, We can assemble with help, No, we cannot provide samples, Unsure
• List any third‑party tools, PLM customizations, or security controls that will affect integration (APIs disabled, SSO, firewall rules, etc.).

Who Owns Risk, Rollback, and Ongoing Support?

• If a deployment caused a production disruption, who would be accountable for remediation? Options: Customer IT/PLM team, Integration vendor, Shared responsibility, Escalate to executive sponsor, Other
• What SLA expectations do you have for support, uptime, and bug fixes post‑deployment? Options: Critical fixes within 24 hours, 48–72 hours, Next release cycle, Business hours support only, Other
• What rollback criteria must be in place before a staged deployment (e.g., data integrity checks, user acceptance gates)? Options: Immediate rollback on data error, Rollback on >X% failure, Rollback only on security issues, No rollback planned, Other
• Who should be on the escalation list and what are preferred communication channels? Options: PLM Admin (email), IT Ops (pager/phone), Vendor Support (ticket system), Engineering Lead (Slack/Teams), Executive Sponsor (email), Other
• What training or enablement will engineers need to trust the integration (hands‑on workshop, quick start guide, video, internal champion)? Options: Hands‑on workshops, Quick start guide, Short video tutorials, On‑call support during cutover, Internal champions/ambassadors, Other

The Demo That Will Make You Say Yes

• What must the demo prove for you to be confident the integration will be adopted (pick up to three must‑show items)? Options: Invisible background save/check‑in, Accurate BOM transfer without re‑entry, Correct revision control behavior, No change to engineer workflow, Support for our CAD+PLM combo, Performance within target latency
• Which exact CAD + PLM combinations should we demonstrate (list specific tool + version where possible)?
• What test scenarios would be most convincing (choose all that apply)? Options: Single file save and check‑in, Large assembly save, BOM publish with metadata mapping, Revision promotion/rollback, Concurrent edits and conflict resolution, ECAD/MCAD cross‑reference sync, Other
• Who needs to attend the demo to approve moving forward (roles or names)? Options: Engineer reps, PLM Admin, IT Integration, Quality/Compliance, Procurement, Executive Sponsor, Other
• How will you evaluate the demo success immediately afterward (quick checklist or acceptance criteria)? Options: Pass/fail test scripts, Engineer signoff, PLM admin QA, Measured metrics meet targets, Other

Deciding, Budgeting, and Next Steps — What Makes This Real?

• How is this project funded today and where does budget approval sit? Options: Allocated in current budget, Requires next budget cycle, Requires capex approval, Funded by a different project, Undecided
• What legal, procurement, or security checks will be gating a purchase or deployment? Options: Standard PO only, Security review required, Vendor risk assessment, Contract negotiation, IT change control board, Other
• What would a minimal viable pilot look like (scope, duration, success gates)?
• Are there internal process changes (release process, naming conventions, metadata standards) that we must respect or change to succeed? Options: Yes—must adapt process, Yes—but minimal changes, No changes allowed, Unsure
• Realistically, what is the next concrete step and timeline we should commit to together? Options: Schedule demo within 2 weeks, Assemble test dataset within 2–4 weeks, Security review kickoff, Procurement/contracting start, Other