1) Are there sufficient machining cycles or strategies?
2) Can a user devise a manufacturing plan according to his experience and preferences, or will a limited set of machining strategies dictate the machining process?

3) Can acquired knowledge be stored and reused in the future on similar parts by the same user or another programmer?

4) Should three programmers spend the time or have the prerogative to select step-downs and other parameters for a
given material on a given machine.

5) How much time and potential scrap/rework can be saved by storing best practices not only for simple applications like drilling but also for five-axis processes?

6) Does the software provide analytic and graphic collision detection? If only graphical, can the user effectively modify
programming parameters based on graphical observations?

7) Is orientation control limited to surface normals (plus lead/lag) or can it be easily applied to multi-surface mold shapes, preferably with limited user interaction?

8) Is collision avoidance available in addition to collision detection to eliminate programming iterations?

9) Can the avoidance mechanism bias the use of one rotary axis over the other (if they don’t have the same specifications)?

10) Can the orientation control seek regions of 3+2 solution to provide more stable results where possible?

11) Do NC postprocessors support advanced control functions?

12) Can they utilize canned cycle functions on tilted workplanes or connect multi-axis hole patterns without repeatedly moving to a safety retract?