The phrase "at a first step" is not commonly used in written English and may sound awkward.
It can be used when introducing the initial phase of a process or action, but "at first step" or "as a first step" are more standard.
Example: "At a first step, we need to gather all relevant data before proceeding with the analysis."
Alternatives: "as an initial step" or "in the first instance".
At a first step, it will be shown that EVA-c presents a thermorheological complex behaviour.
At a first step for future investigations, land use variables will be treated to define accurately the previous 4 components.
At a first step, the hydrological model IHMS-HBV was calibrated using both local and large scale forcing data (precipitation and temperature) aiming to assess the suitability of large scale forcing data in a small basin, Platis, located in Crete, for the period 1974 1999.
The adopted approaches are (i) three step optimisation, in which first the stage matrix (stage composition and sequence), the green timings at each single junction are optimised, then the node offsets are computed in three successive steps; (ii) two step optimisation, in which the stage matrix is defined at a first step, then the green timings and the node offsets are computed at a second step.
At a first step, recognize who "owns" social at your firm.
At a first step, we formalized specification by a using a transformation technique of UML models.
The Internet service provider group appears to prefer this approach, at least as a first step.
Start by looking for the simple solution to things, at least as a first step.
This approach was supported by a majority of Member States, at least as a first step.
All they need to do and quickly is to make good on the statement of VP Biden, at least as a first step.
We will, however, only take an exploratory look at England and Germany, as a first step towards more systematic research in this direction.
