YOUR OBJECTIVE COMES FIRST
Define the scope in its operating context.
Connect the technology to a useful commercial offer.
Michigan’s economic development corporation lists mobility, advanced manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, technology and professional services among its core industries. Consider a supplier business coordinating a change across engineering and purchasing as a scoping example, not a local client claim. Its work may depend on affected item references, document revisions and approval history. The engagement should establish how the business separates an incoming proposal from an authorized production change. That operating detail helps distinguish an appropriate service scope from a broad industry label, with actual requirements confirmed by your organization.
Michigan Economic Development Corporation: industry context ↗01A use case with a real buyer
Define who experiences the problem, who would use the solution and who approves spending. Examine evidence from customer conversations and existing alternatives. Distinguish an interesting technical capability from a reason an organization would change its current workflow. For a supplier business coordinating a change across engineering and purchasing, discuss supplier engineering change intake with the people doing the work. Bring affected item references, document revisions and approval history and identify where the business separates an incoming proposal from an authorized production change. Use that evidence to refine the assignment instead of assuming every business in the state needs the same capability.
02From a capability to a customer use
Define a potential use in enough detail to test whether the technology is relevant. For example: Capture proposed item references, document revisions and requested actions from incoming messages. Compare approved mappings and route ambiguous details for review before a change reaches another application. Identify the user, buyer, present alternative and limitations. A possible technical solution is a hypothesis to validate, not proof of willingness to pay.
03A delivery model around the technology
A related situation may expose a different requirement for integration or support: Extract customer and line-item details, then check units, product references and pricing rules. Preserve the source text beside discrepancies so staff can resolve them without rekeying the entire document. Decide which responsibilities belong in the product, which require a partner and which remain with the customer. Use the findings to refine a pilot and the first commercial offer.
04Evidence for the next commercial stage
Agree a bounded pilot or customer learning plan with acceptance criteria. Examine implementation effort, actual usage and support needs alongside technical performance. Use the findings to revise the offer, roadmap or delivery approach before assuming a larger launch is justified.
