Industry guide
Records from engineering firms
What counts here is the path from a requirement to a released design. You can keep client designs and export-controlled data out.
See my estimateA few more points
- Your design methods remain yours. Any project, product line or period can be held back.
- Placeholders replace clients, vendors and your own engineers.
- Nobody asks for logins, and originals remain in your vault.
How to start small
A practical place to start is internal work your firm fully owns, like design reviews, revision history and test records for your own products. You can review client programs one by one down the line, with counsel, or exclude them permanently. Every addition is your decision.
The preparation steps are the same no matter what you include. License Your Data uses only the scope you sign off on, swaps names and identifiers for placeholders and has you review a sample before anything is shared. Nothing original ever leaves your own systems.
What owners usually include
- CAD drawings and 3D models
- BOMs and engineering calculations
- Results from simulations and testing
- Revision history and design reviews
- Schematics, PCB layouts and inspection results
Common questions
Will you need access to our PDM?
No. Passwords are never requested or shared.
Can we begin with a small scope?
Yes. Begin with one system or one product line and leave out everything else.
Is there anything to sign up front?
An NDA comes first. There is no cost, and nothing is shared without your approval.
Client work and confidentiality
Much engineering work is owned by clients or covered by confidentiality terms. That is a question for your agreements and your counsel. Legal advice is not something we give. Client-owned work can be excluded during scoping, and client names are replaced in the copy regardless.
Technical data under export controls, frequent on defense and aerospace programs, is flagged at scoping and can stay out entirely.