diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
similarity index 89%
rename from .github/workflows/ci.yml
rename to .github/workflows/pr.yml
index a5e2c254..57fda235 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
-name: ci
+name: pr
 
-on: [push, pull_request]
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [develop, main]
+  pull_request:
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
 
 env:
   X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION: "3.10"
@@ -19,6 +26,8 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
+          cache: "pip"
+          cache-dependency-path: "./check_python_versions_requirements.txt"
       - name: Install Python dependencies
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -53,7 +62,7 @@ jobs:
       # that you want to use to test the serialization adapter against.
       # Currently, we need to update this manually, however I'm afraid this is not possible to automatically infer,
       # since it's heavily dependant of the version of the AAS specification we support.
-      AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG: "IDTA-01001-3-1-2"
+      AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG: "v3.1.2"
     services:
       couchdb:
         image: couchdb:3
@@ -77,11 +86,13 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Collect schema files from aas-specs
       run: |
         mkdir -p ./test/adapter/schema
-        curl -sSL -o ./test/adapter/schema/aasJSONSchema.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/admin-shell-io/aas-specs/${{ env.AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG }}/schemas/json/aas.json
-        curl -sSL -o ./test/adapter/schema/aasXMLSchema.xsd https://raw.githubusercontent.com/admin-shell-io/aas-specs/${{ env.AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG }}/schemas/xml/AAS.xsd
+        curl -sSLf -o ./test/adapter/schema/aasJSONSchema.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/admin-shell-io/aas-specs-metamodel/refs/tags/${{ env.AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG }}/schemas/json/aas.json
+        curl -sSLf -o ./test/adapter/schema/aasXMLSchema.xsd https://raw.githubusercontent.com/admin-shell-io/aas-specs-metamodel/refs/tags/${{ env.AAS_SPECS_RELEASE_TAG }}/schemas/xml/AAS.xsd
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -109,6 +120,8 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -132,6 +145,8 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -159,6 +174,8 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MAX_VERSION }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -215,17 +232,14 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      with:
-        # TODO(#592): revisit when the sdk<->compliance_tool version pinning is fixed.
-        # Need tags so setuptools_scm builds the local sdk as >=1.0.0, else the loose
-        # `basyx-python-sdk>=1.0.0` pin lets pip replace it with the PyPI release.
-        fetch-depth: 0
     - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
-      # install the local sdk first so its version satisfies the >=1.0.0 pin and pip keeps it instead of PyPI
+      # install the local sdk in editable mode so it does not get overwritten
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
         python -m pip install ../sdk
@@ -247,17 +261,14 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: ./compliance_tool
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      with:
-        # TODO(#592): revisit when the sdk<->compliance_tool version pinning is fixed.
-        # Need tags so setuptools_scm builds the local sdk as >=1.0.0, else the loose
-        # `basyx-python-sdk>=1.0.0` pin lets pip replace it with the PyPI release.
-        fetch-depth: 0
     - name: Set up Python ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
-      # install the local sdk first so its version satisfies the >=1.0.0 pin and pip keeps it instead of PyPI
+      # install the local sdk in editable mode so it does not get overwritten
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
         python -m pip install ../sdk
@@ -308,6 +319,8 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ env.X_PYTHON_MIN_VERSION }}
+        cache: "pip"
+        cache-dependency-path: "**/pyproject.toml"
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip