Silvon Software's Latest Stratum Release Enables Visibility Across the Supply Chain.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

WESTMONT, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Stratum 3.0's New Forecasting, Exception Management and Web-Based Reporting Features Allow Companies to Improve Supply Chain Performance

Companies can improve the performance of their supply chains with new forecasting, exception management and Web-based reporting features available in the latest release of Silvon Software's Stratum(TM) analytic applications suite. With Stratum 3.0, users can generate statistical forecasts and model "what if?" scenarios with new forecasting functions, monitor and manage events in real time with exception management capabilities, and share performance measurements with external parties through the Stratum.eZViewer web interface.

"Stratum 3.0 represents a significant step for us in our continuing efforts to further enhance the infrastructure required by our customers not only to plan and analyze their own business performance, but also to collaborate and share performance measurements with suppliers, manufacturers and customers to improve overall supply chain productivity," said Mike Hennel, president and CEO of Silvon. "The enhancements included in this release will further help organizations drive top-line growth by helping them support strategies through operational execution, identify and react to exceptions and opportunities for business process improvement, and solve business issues even more proactively."

"Silvon has always been well known for its analytics involving the performance of a company's manufacturing and supply chain activities. However, with Stratum 3.0, Silvon not only improves on its core competencies, but it also provides strong analytic applications and value across the entire demand chain," said Kevin Scott, analyst, AMR Research, Inc. "The desire for a comprehensive decision-support system is a growing trend, and Silvon is now positioned to tell a story companies want to hear."

Stratum 3.0 features enhancements to its Sales Performance Management (SPM) module to support statistical demand forecasting and planning, new product forecasting, and sales and operations planning. The latest version also offers enhancements to its Marketing Performance Management (MPM) module for analyzing category performance, sell through, trade funds and promotions, deductions and geographic/demographic coverage.

In addition, the Stratum 3.0 SPM and MPM modules are delivered with a number of web-based analytics that can be viewed using Silvon's Stratum.eZViewer web interface. These views provide onsite and remote users, customers, vendors and other supply chain partners with the ability to analyze sales, inventory, open order, trade promotion and other information through a number of pre-packaged views.

Version 3.0 extends Stratum's forecasting, planning and analytic capabilities with the addition of exception management functionality, which allows supply chain managers to monitor events through detects and alerts. Users establish business rules (detects) for business conditions that need to be monitored. When rules are broken or certain other conditions occur, alerts are sent automatically to designated internal and external users. Automated actions also can be established to respond to alerts. For example, a low inventory alert can trigger an automatic purchase or manufacturing order.

Stratum 3.0 provides pre-defined business rules for exception management that can be customized. These rules reflect more than 60 Key Performance Indicators based on the Supply Chain Council's Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model.

About Silvon Software, Inc. - www.silvon.com

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Westmont (Chicago), Illinois, Silvon Software is a global provider of business performance management analytic applications for manufacturing, wholesale distribution and retail enterprises.

The Silvon Stratum suite of analytic applications features completely integrated modules for analyzing and managing performance in the areas of Sales, Marketing, CRM, Manufacturing, Procurement, e-Business, and Finance supported by hundreds of pre-built, best-of-breed analytical views and reports based on supply chain-specific business models.

Silvon's analytic applications run on the IBM iSeries, Windows NT and Unix platforms. The company's products are currently installed in more than 1,400 sites worldwide.