When a new project begins, nothing is designed yet.
There is no finalized BOM
No approved drawings
No structured dataset
Instead, there are conversations. Sales, project managers, and engineers come together to interpret a request. They compare past projects, evaluate constraints, estimate costs, assess risks, and align on what is even possible.
This phase defines everything that follows. And yet, it is the least structured part of the entire process.
At this stage, information is everywhere.
Spreadsheets. Meeting notes. Emails. ERP data. Reference designs in Vault.
There is no single place where product definition actually lives.
Instead, teams operate inside a kind of virtual table. Information is collected, discussed, interpreted. Decisions are made, but rarely captured in a way that connects to execution.
The result? A phase that drives critical decisions… but leaves no structured trace.
Most engineering inefficiencies don’t start in design. They start in unstructured decisions.
Most teams try to solve this with shared folders or collaboration tools. It helps. But only on the surface. Because what defines a project is not just documents. It is:
These are not files. They are decisions. And when they are buried inside documents or scattered across systems, they lose context and visibility.
This is where a different approach starts to matter. Instead of storing information, you structure it.
Instead of documenting outcomes, you manage the process that creates them.
With Autodesk Fusion Manage, product definition becomes something you can actually see and work with:
Now the early phase is no longer informal. It becomes part of the system.
Defining a machine or plant is not a single action. It is a sequence.
Inputs are collected. Options are evaluated. Scope is aligned. Engineering is prepared.
When this is structured:
Work moves forward because it is clearly defined. Not because someone followed up.
In real projects, discussions are rarely abstract. They happen on designs.
Teams review previous CAD models, compare alternatives, and adapt existing solutions. That is where the real understanding happens.
Instead of separating discussions from engineering data, they need to happen directly on it.
With integrated access to Vault data, teams can:
No switching tools. No lost context.
Versioning files is not enough. Because in early phases, information is fluid.
Ideas evolve. Assumptions change. Options are explored.
What teams actually need is clarity:
Lifecycle states bring that clarity. They turn uncertainty into visible progress.
At the beginning, there is rarely a complete BOM. What exists instead is a partial structure:
Top-level assemblies
Key machines in a plant
Specific components that must be used
Proven technical solutions from previous projects
That is enough to guide decisions.
By capturing this early structure, teams create a foundation that evolves naturally into the final BOM.
Not a replacement. A starting point.
What is defined early does not disappear. It grows. It becomes:
This is where continuity is created. And where most teams lose it.
When nothing is structured, coordination becomes the system.
Meetings are used to:
Emails often become the default way to keep everyone aligned, but this is not real progress. It is a workaround for missing structure. When product definition is managed in a structured way, this dynamic changes.
Meetings are no longer spent figuring out what needs to be done or who should do it. Instead, they become focused moments where teams review, discuss, and make decisions that move the project forward.
Product definition does not begin in CAD. It starts much earlier, in conversations, in decisions, and in the way information is brought together across teams. When this early phase remains unstructured, the same inefficiencies are carried forward into every downstream step, shaping how engineering, coordination, and execution unfold.
But when it becomes structured:
And projects move forward with far less friction.
If you recognize this situation, it is worth taking a closer look at how the early phase of your projects is structured.
The answer to that question often explains more than any feature comparison ever could.
Fusion Manage is one way to bring structure to this phase not by replacing engineering or ERP systems, but by connecting them through a shared product definition and a guided process.