Business Engine Extends Earned Value Management Lead with MPM 3.1 Release.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Business Engine

--Seamless Microsoft Office Project Integration Enables Government Suppliers To Efficiently Tie Schedule to Earned Value, Comply with Federal Regulations

--http://www.businessengine.com/news/press/050305.html

Business Engine, a leading provider of earned value and project portfolio management applications, today announced the availability of Micro-Frame Program Manager (MPM) version 3.1. MPM is the leading solution for Earned Value Management in industries such as aerospace & defense and architecture & engineering. Compliant with ANSI/EIA-748, MPM enables organizations to efficiently manage multiple programs from start to finish while complying with the proposal and reporting requirements of their customers.

Calculating earned value is critical for suppliers to federal and other government agencies because they must comply with earned value standards specified in government contracts under ANSI/EIA-748.

Matt Light, Research Director at Gartner, Inc, said, "Earned Value Management has long been used by government contractors to measure project performance and to calculate project cost and schedule variances. However, new compliance regulations have increased the demand for cost management standards like ANSI/EIA-748, and for earned value solutions, especially in federal government IT groups, which are now required to manage programs using earned value techniques."

In use at more than 400 organizations today, including at Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon, MPM is the only complete solution for efficiently managing the entire program management lifecycle - from the proposal phase through program completion.

"Business Engine is well-placed to take advantage of the growth in demand for earned value management," commented Mark Strauch, Business Engine's chief operating officer. "Business Engine has 20 years of experience in supplying earned value management solutions to the aerospace and defense, engineering and architecture industries, and this new advanced version of MPM further extends our industry lead. We are excited to be improving operational efficiency in earned value for project control offices across all these industries."

The release of MPM 3.1 provides seamless Microsoft Office Project 2003 integration, security enhancements to comply with internal Sarbanes Oxley requirements, additional flexibility in establishing the project infrastructure, and an upgrade to Business Object's Crystal Reports version 10. As a result, program managers can now receive critical data analysis earlier in the reporting cycle, saving time and expediting program delivery.

Key benefits include:

--Microsoft Project(R) 2003 Integration - MPM now has a standard interface for Microsoft Office Project allowing users to map Project fields to be swept to MPM earned value data fields. Users can easily integrate WBS Descriptive and Schedule information, Estimates, Milestone, and Earned Value information. More significantly, users may now preprocess the data to be interfaced to look for problems in the data prior to its update in the database.

--Burden Templates - Users may now calculate burdens based on a previously established subtotal or burden amount.

--Project and Program Reporting Enhancements - Users can view data for two projects by month and see the deltas between the two projects by selecting to display the variance. This assists any Project Controls organization in baseline change trace-ability.

--Security - Additional critical security features to support users' internal Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

--Upgrade to Crystal Reports 10 - A new release of Crystal Reports 10 for MPM coincides with the release of MPM 3.1.

MPM is the industry standard for Earned Value Management, with critical functionality around work breakdown structures, full burdening capabilities, full security measures, as well as extensive estimating capabilities and what-if modeling of different scenarios. A comprehensive library of over 100 standard reports - including the most widely used government reports - rounds out the offering.

To download more information, visit http://www.businessengine.com/products/mpm.html

About Business Engine

Business Engine is a leading provider of earned value management and project portfolio management solutions that enable project-driven organizations to meet their complex project, resource, and financial planning needs. Business Engine solutions provide organizations with the visibility and control they need to make informed decisions, align corporate objectives with project investments, and measure business results. Over 400 organizations including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon rely on Business Engine and MPM to accelerate time-to-value, control costs, and be more dynamic in the face of changing market conditions. Visit www.businessengine.com for more information.