# Engineering resources > Checklists, playbooks and reference matrices for embedded systems, robotics, reliable systems engineering and embedded DevOps. Source page: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/ MNP Systems is an engineering consultancy based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, that takes work from anywhere: remotely, or on site where a job needs hands on the equipment. Contact: https://mnpsystems.ca/contact/, contact@mnpsystems.ca, or call 1-888-338-1090 (toll-free; an AI receptionist answers). **Resources** The checklists and playbooks we work from, written for the engineers who have to ship the thing. 7 of them download straight away. The longer ones we send over, because they are worth an inbox. ## Documents - **Legacy Controls Modernization Playbook** — Sequencing an aging line from undocumented controls to connected, maintainable equipment, without stopping production. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Machine Retrofit & Connectivity Checklist** — What to verify before you change a running machine's controls, or connect it to anything. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/machine-retrofit-checklist.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/machine-retrofit-checklist/) - **Production Line Digitization Checklist** — What to settle before a line's machines and paper records feed one data backbone, and AI after it. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/production-line-digitization-checklist.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/production-line-digitization-checklist/) - **Autonomous Systems Architecture Blueprint** — A reference architecture for a production robot, and the decisions behind each layer. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Build vs. Hire Decision Framework** — A scoring instrument for deciding whether an open engineering role should be a hire, an augmentation, or neither. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/build-vs-hire-decision-framework.pdf; run it in your browser: https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/build-vs-hire/) - **Embedded Systems CI/CD Checklist** — A practical guide for firmware teams shipping with confidence. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Engineering Team Scaling Playbook** — Sequencing an embedded or robotics team from a handful of engineers to a group that can ship without you. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Complete Embedded DevOps Playbook** — Sequencing a firmware team from manual bench testing to automated hardware-in-the-loop. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **HIL Pipeline Setup Checklist** — What to verify when you stand up a hardware-in-the-loop rig, before you trust what it tells you. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/hil-pipeline-checklist.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/hil-pipeline-checklist/) - **Robotics Production Readiness Checklist** — What to verify before a robot that works in the lab is allowed to work in the field. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/robotics-production-readiness-checklist.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/robotics-production-readiness-checklist/) - **Safety-Critical Certification Readiness Guide** — What to have in place before an assessor looks at your system, and in what order to build it. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Safety Standards Quick-Reference Matrix** — The functional-safety standards, integrity levels and evidence an assessor will ask for, side by side. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/safety-standards-matrix.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/safety-standards-matrix/) - **Production Yocto Cookbook** — Recipes for taking a Yocto build from boots-on-the-bench to shippable under the CRA. (free, sent by email on request from the resources page) - **Yocto Security & CRA Compliance Checklist** — What to verify in a Yocto build before it ships as a regulated product. (free PDF, no email required: https://mnpsystems.ca/downloads/yocto-security-compliance-checklist.pdf; read it online: https://mnpsystems.ca/resources/yocto-security-compliance-checklist/) ## Tools - [Build vs. Hire decision tool](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/build-vs-hire/): scores one open engineering role against six factors and recommends hiring full-time, augmenting, or neither. Its questions and scoring are at https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/build-vs-hire.md. - [Check Sheet Converter](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/check-sheet/): turns a photo or PDF of one blank paper check sheet into a tablet form, every check with its limits and frequency, a prompt for what was done when a reading is out of limits, and the sign-off. - [Price Range Finder](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/price-range/): runs the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter on survey answers, typed or pasted, and shows the range customers accept, the optimal price, and the margin each price leaves after cost. - [AI Use Policy Builder](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/ai-policy/): seven questions about how a business uses AI, and the one-page AI use policy they make: approved tools, what never goes into them, who checks the output, customers, decisions about people, meetings, and who keeps the policy. - [AI Brief Builder](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/ai-brief/): seven questions about one piece of work a person is about to hand to an AI tool, and the brief they make: the outcome behind the task, the evidence and expert methods, methods borrowed from other fields, the boundaries and the reasons for them, what counts as done, and a sign-off checklist. - [Website Check](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/website-check/): checks a website's speed on a phone, what Google sees, whether everyone can read and use it, whether it counts visitors and whether AI search tools can read it, and lists the fixes that matter most. - [Your site, as an assistant](https://mnpsystems.ca/tools/site-assistant/): reads up to 10 pages of a business's website and builds an AI assistant that answers customers' questions from them, for 10 questions.