Emory University Implements $2 Million Facilities Information Management System Using AEC Data Systems and WorkPlace.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1998--WorkPlace System Solutions, a Bentley Strategic Affiliate, announced today that Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia is implementing its ActiveAsset solution in conjunction with FM Enterprise from AEC Data Systems, Inc. as part of a $2 million campus-wide solution for collecting, maintaining, managing, and disseminating information about Emory's space assets. The solution, which Emory calls FIMS (facilities information management system), will enable the university to efficiently manage more than seven million square feet of space. It will also integrate with existing applications and introduce a visual representation of space assets in the form of floor plans, campus maps, and photographs.

The integrated solution provided by AEC Data and WorkPlace provides Emory a commercial solution that unifies space management, engineering information management, and work order management - aspects of facilities management that are usually maintained separately - in a single, integrated model. The single database allows Emory to combine its investment in engineering information with a system that addresses both maintenance and space planning, avoiding the problems of maintaining duplicate data in separate systems.

"At Emory, we believe well-designed, attractive, and efficiently operated facilities are essential to world-class teaching, research, and service," says Charles Norris, FIMS project manager. "FIMS will ensure the availability of accurate and up-to-date facility data such as building and room locations, occupants, sizes, and functions to departments in need of information. The system will link various operations and databases, establishing a "best authoritative source" of information and support to the business processes of various departments. Emory cites seven key benefits to the FIMS:

-- Cost-effective executive decisions -- Productivity savings -- Cost avoidance -- Consolidation of information, eliminating mistakes and redundancies

-- Better managed building and site information -- Improved planning capabilities o Improved practices and procedures

FIMS will allow multiple users to draw from a common information repository for maintenance management, space planning and analysis, and engineering information, seeing information as both text and graphics. It will be possible to automatically calculate square footage from the architectural floor plans and relate this information to space occupied by a department or research funds generated by a given member of the faculty. This approach also makes it possible to store information from a variety of sources such as maintenance work requests, capital assets, and floor location, and to leverage this information throughout the life cycle of the facility.

"We are pleased to see Emory playing a leadership role in advancing the integration of space management with engineering information and facility maintenance," says Gary Lerner, vice president of Integrated Workplace Solutions at WorkPlace. "We applaud Emory's vision and conviction to make graphics just another representation of the corporate database." "Emory is one of the many universities we work with whose facility budget represents a significant portion of their overall operating budget," says Mike Stuart, president of AEC. "When a university can use FM Enterprise to save even a small percentage of their budget, it can mean millions of dollars in savings."

By implementing FIMS, Emory is working towards a system that is as paperless as possible. For fast communications with the field, messages are sent digitally to the mechanic's alphanumeric pager.

About WorkPlace System Solutions, A Bentley Strategic Affiliate

WorkPlace System Solutions, a Bentley Strategic Affiliate, is a leading provider of engineering information management systems for a variety of applications, including facilities and asset management, engineering and design document management, and project information management using the Internet and extranets. WorkPlace System Solution also offers solutions that connect MicroStation(R)-based engineering organizations with enterprise resource planning systems, such as SAP. WorkPlace has worldwide operations with international offices in Europe, Asia, and Africa. WorkPlace can be reached

-- by telephone at 978-952-2559 -- by FAX at 978-952-0181 -- by e-mail at [e-mail] -- on the Web at www.workplacesystems.com

About AEC Data Systems

AEC Data Systems provides comprehensive, expert solutions for facility and real estate management professionals to more effectively use their organization's physical assets (including people, facilities, space, equipment and materials). AEC's software and facilities expertise enables organizations to achieve substantial and measurable cost savings, and at the same time provide improved service to their customers. Thousands of facility and real estate professionals in many of the world's most successful organizations rely on AEC's solutions to increase profitability by improving their ability to manage the physical assets of their organization. AEC Data can be reached

-- by telephone at 210-308-9001 -- by FAX at 210-308-9015 -- on the Web at www.aecdata.com

About Bentley and Bentley Strategic Affiliates

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, is a worldwide leader in engineering software and user services. The Bentley Continuum is the company's comprehensive engineering IT strategy comprising products, services, and strategic affiliations. The company now serves over a quarter million professionals in building/plant engineering, geoengineering, and mechanical engineering. With revenues now over $150M annually, Bentley was listed as the largest privately held company on the 1998 Softletter 100 and named to the 1998 Upside Hot 100. Bentley's MicroStation desktop and ModelServer Internet/intranet/extranet-based products are used at over 70% of the largest U.S. engineering firms. They form the software foundation of well-known buildings, roadways, machines, and industrial plants around the world. The Bentley SELECT(SM) technology and service subscription program now reaches over 150,000 users. Bentley Strategic Affiliates provide project services and the world's best and most interoperable engineering applications to Bentley users. Bentley's Strategic Affiliate program involves an intense technical and business collaboration with, as well as corporate investment in, a select number of focused, luminary developers.

Bentley Strategic Affiliates include GEOPAK, providing civil engineering software, advanced traffic management systems for worldwide transportation projects; HMR, developing advanced imaging for engineering and geoengineering; Jacobus Technology, offering products and services for plant engineering and design; NetSpace Systems, providing solutions to utility and telecommunications companies managing distributed engineered assets and municipal geoengineering solutions; and WorkPlace System Solutions, providing asset-centric engineering information management. More information about Bentley and Bentley Strategic Affiliates is available at www.bentley.com. -0-

ActiveAsset, Integrated Workplace, and the WorkPlace logo are trademarks of WorkPlace System Solutions, Inc. Bentley and MicroStation are registered trademarks; ModelServer is a trademark and Bentley SELECT is a service mark of Bentley Systems, Incorporated. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

    CONTACT: k.fisher communications
              Kayla Fisher, 603/428-3013
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