Action Technologies Wins 1998 Industry Solution Award; Microsoft Honors ActionWorks for Excellence in Workflow Management.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 1998--Action Technologies Inc., a leader in Web-based workflow and work management software for knowledge workers, today announced that it has been awarded the 1998 Microsoft Industry Solution Award (ISA) for workflow management.

Microsoft presented the ISAs at the Knowledge Management Expo, which concluded yesterday.

In the award-winning industry solution, ActionWorks(TM), Action's workflow software suite, based on the Microsoft BackOffice(R) server platform, was used by Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, which produces the F-16 and portions of the F-22 and F-2 fighters, to streamline its quality assurance reporting process.

ActionWorks was selected in large part because the ActionWorks-based work management application was able to deliver significant business benefits. Lockheed's ActionWorks system has shown a 50 percent reduction in the problem resolution cycle time and the company is projecting a net cumulative savings of over $1 million by 2001.

Scalability was another important factor. ActionWorks demonstrated the ability to scale to support 500 users. The application also showed tight and effective integration of workflow with other systems and technologies, including Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), as well as flexibility in handling structured, collaborative and ad hoc work within the same process.

Award History and Selection Process

The annual Microsoft Industry Solution Awards are designed to recognize developers of software applications in the document systems and knowledge management markets. Action has won its second consecutive Microsoft ISA and is the only workflow software vendor to have won the prestigious ISA for structured workflow in the history of the awards.

Finalists in each of the categories were selected by a preliminary judging panel of industry executives. The finalists judging panel included Daniel Chan, Doculabs; Jay Bromberek, Doculabs; Tom Dale, Automated Data Sciences; Mike Maziarka, Cap Ventures; Richard Medina, Doculabs; and Emeka Ojukwu, Doculabs. The winners were chosen after the judges viewed their solutions on-site.

"Action Technologies demonstrated strong innovation and leadership with their winning solution, ActionWorks," said Donna Conner, knowledge management industry marketing manager at Microsoft Corp. "It's great to see developers like Action Technologies utilizing the Windows platform to create such powerful industry solutions."

About Action Technologies

Action is the leading provider of Web-based workflow and work management software for knowledge workers.

The ActionWorks(TM) system, anchored by ActionWorks Metro, Web-based workflow software, enables organizations to rapidly deploy collaborative business applications across intranets, extranets and the Internet, that enhance the mission-critical efforts of skilled professionals, working together to deliver products and services to demanding clients.

Headquartered in Alameda, Action sells its products worldwide through a direct sales force as well as through systems integrators, VARs, and distributors. Action's European Support Center, Work Management Europe, provides dedicated support for Action's products in Europe.

Additional information and product demonstrations are available on Action's Web site at http://www.actiontech.com, or contact Customer Relations at 510/521-6190.

Note to Editors: ActionWorks is a trademark of Action Technologies Inc. Microsoft, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications and SQL Server, ActiveX, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and product names are the trademarks of their respective owners.