1189320120Content WireDeskaccountability,addressed,automation,checks,conflict,Democracy,direct access,disaster recovery,document management,document management systems,Emergency Response,government agencies,human rights,Human Rights,mobile services,new research,news service,news site,one of the few,priority,project management,public access,research director,specifically,stakeAccountability Project for Public Emergency Response[img_assist|nid=19731|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=72|height=75] The United States Government Accountability Office has released <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07454.pdf">a 320 page report</a> (PDF) admitting that "DHS has made limited progress in the areas of emergency preparedness and response."  On the same issue, the US Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs <a href="http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm" target="_blank">has heard </a>The Honorable David M. Walker, Comptroller General, United States Government Accountability Office and The Honorable Paul A. Schneider, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<div>Also, since Katrina, members of Congress urged the Red Cross <a href="http://www.redcross.org/report/bogoct2006/" target="_blank">(PDF)</a> to develop a new governance structure. </div><div> </div><div>“The latest findings confirm that Homeland Security and FEMA are dysfunctional. There have been countless reports since Katrina and many make the same recommendations, over and over" </div>says Ben Smilowitz, Director, Disaster Accountability Project. "Instead of hearing from Homeland Security’s top brass, Congress ought to hear from whistleblowers within the department. We are in the middle of a hurricane season that produced two category five storms in as many weeks. Homeland Security’s leadership should be investigated.” "One thing in particular that's of specific interest to me", Ben says,"are the new whistle-blowing procedures discussed in the report. My understanding is that whistle blowing reviews are still internal. While the American Red Cross contracted out the collection of whistle- blower reports, the public still does not have access to information about what is reported..... this underscores my concern regarding a lack of public accountability in the nation's lead agency for Emergency Support Function Six (Mass Care)" Any function so important to the well-being of all Americans (and our visitors) should be completely transparent, Ben thinks  Ben's story After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Ben Smilowitz, who later founded the Disaster Accountability Project, contacted the Red Cross to volunteer and was sent to Gulfport, Mississippi There, he tells, he managed a Client Service Center from mid-September until early October. "While the site provided as much as $20 million in 20 days to nearly 20,000 households, the actual support each household received was minimal" [img_assist|nid=19732|title=Ben with Rev Harris|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=100|height=99] Could you give more details? The center was unable to meet the needs of the community despite significant public relations and fundraising efforts by the American Red Cross misrepresenting the opposite. We wrote checks for $360 per person. $660 for two in a household, $960 for three, $1265 for four, $1565 for five or more in a household. After Katrina, $360 was petty cash for someone that lost everything. Many people walked in without anything--- everything had been destroyed in the storm. You say that the center was unable to meet the needs of the community, explain more what you mean here please - what do you think was the problem, and what the cause Specifically, I think that an organization fundraising this heavily is not likely to disclose its shortcomings. I see this as a great conflict of interest. Disaster survivors need disaster relief groups that will serve as advocates and be honest about the extent of their abilities and limitations in providing disaster relief services. This is why I believe that the public affairs work by the American Red Cross after Katrina was deceptive.... the public was not told about the problems, only the successes. Because the problems were shielded from public scrutiny, they were not addressed and suffering was exacerbated. If my experience means anything, as a manager of a Red Cross "Client Service Center after Katrina, I was told that I'd be fired if I talked to the media without calling public affairs first...I continued to talk about service gaps (facts only) and was relieved of my service in the middle of the day by Red Cross security and was driven to the airport in Mobile, AL..... To which media did you talk, and what issues/facts, did you report?I spoke with a few reporters. One from a radio station in Syracuse, CNN showed up one day, and one more reporter, I think from an AL or L television station. I shared this information: We had and unresponsive infant at our site because of the heat and long lines, mothers bringing babies that weren't their own to move up in the line, an inability to provide tetanus shots and IVs, a complete cut in National Guard medics and 1/4 the National Guard members you had the day before, only one or two tents (provided by the damaged church next door) that were only enough to cover a small percentage of those waiting for services, no automation and less efficiency because of it, critical supply shortages on some days (i.e. no salts, meals).... I don't think I was directly quoted on much... and I wasn't negative, just eager to make sure gaps in services were made public and addressed. Also, Hurricane Rita struck Louisiana around the same time and a lot of the news shifted to Rita for a few days. Another interesting twist, is that a few days after I left, one of the security guards that drove me to the airport called me to let me know about another problem he was experiencing, related to Red Cross services being provided, with a request that I help publicize it. You say that 'reported' gaps were addressed faster than unreported ones, can you give some examples? Yes. I call it the Anderson Cooper effect. I remember watching him report that a number of FEMA trailers were sitting in Arkansas or Tennessee unused. A couple days later, I watched him report that because of the news story and publicity, the trailers were getting moved to the Gulf Coast and being put to use. It's that kind of publicity that often broke through the red-tape and led to problems and gaps in services getting addressed. Did you sign any contract/agreement which bound to confidentiality while in volunteer service for the RC?I'm sure I signed an agreement that I'd follow a code of conduct, rules, etc. However, during a crisis, critical supply shortages on some days (i.e. no salts, meals) .... staying quiet is not an option or a service to the public, even if it means getting sent home. Regardless, lives were at stake, we were providing a public function (ESF-6 of the National Response Plan) and the Red Cross was getting reimbursed by the Federal Government for billions of dollars of aid. The big rule was that we could not compromise the privacy of the clients/survivors at our site and that is something I did not do. When I asked my supervisors to document why they were sending me home in my evaluation, they would not. I was given high marks and was told I was getting sent home because my three-week service term had expired.. a direct contradiction of what I was told by the public affairs coordinator who told me that if I talked before calling public affairs, I'd get fired. What does the Disaster Accountability Project do? The mission of the Disaster Accountability Project is to provide accountability and oversight before, during, and after disasters through monitoring and policy research. We focus on both immediate and long-term disaster accountability and oversight. Our Disaster Accountability Monitor network attempts to verify reports that we receive via the hotline. We publicize reported gaps in services in an effort to make sure that they are addressed by the responsible organizations or agencies. After Katrina, publicized gaps in services were more likely to be addressed than those that were not. Long-Term, our website is tracking the hundreds (soon thousands) of post-Katrina recommendations to improve the nation's disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery systems. While we are going through reports, collecting recommendations on our website, and tracking their progress, we have a public-engagement tool that allows the public to help track recommendations and submit that information. We will do our best to verify the information we receieve and post it as soon as possible. Right now, our top priority is recruiting Disaster Accountability Monitors and Bloggers and fundraising to hire a staff person and maintain the site. How are the reports on your website verified? We do not endorse them. But we are looking to see what has been done about the recommendations in each report. Given our nation's lack of preparedness, I think it makes sense that we consider as many options as possible and I'd like to hold our leaders accountable to that. Each recommendation on our website has citation information and with that, anyone can access the report the recommendation came from.... and people can decide for themselves how much weight they want to give each recommendation. How is the Disaster Accountability Project funded? Good question. We're not. The idea for this project was conceived in Fall 2005, planned between February - July 2007, and officially launched in August 2007. Hiring a staff position is now a top priority and we need funding to both achieve that goal and maintain the Project. Please help!www.disasteraccountability.org  [img_assist|nid=19734|title=|desc=Photo courtesy of www.ecbt.org|link=url,http://www.ecbt.org/parents/disasterrecoverystory.cfm|align=left|width=640|height=312]http://www.content-wire.com/accountability-project-public-emergency-response1188563972Content WireDeskaccountability,benefit,boundaries,charity,circumstances,corporations,decisions,Democracy,Development,development environment,development time,economy,Economy,global economic,health care,help companies,human rights,Human Rights,inevitably,love,money,money to be made,necessarily,new economy,one of the few,open source,open source world,prioritize,public sector,real estate,real time,relationship,repeatedly,respect to,reveal,single source,six months,six percent,take advantage,three months,time and money,time it takes,time spentThe Ten Most Important Lessons Learned - Two Years of KatrinaBy Bill Quigley  One. Build and rebuild community. When disaster hits and life is wrecked, you immediately seem to be on your own. Isolation after a disaster is a recipe for powerlessness and depression. Family, community, church, work associations are all important – get them up and working as fast as possible. People will stand up and fight, but we need communities to do it. Prize women – they are the first line of community builders. Guys will talk and fight and often grab the spotlight, but women will help everyone and do whatever it takes to protect families and communities. Powerful forces mobilize immediately after a disaster. People and politicians and organizations have their own agendas and it helps them if our communities are fragmented. Setting one group against another, saying one group is more important than another is not helpful. Stress and distress is high for everyone, but community support will multiply the resources of individuals. Build bridges. People together are much stronger than people alone. Two. Self-reliance. Your community must be ready to re-settle your property as soon as possible and care for those most in need. Prioritize help for the elderly, the sick, children and women, especially the poor. The prime cure for helplessness is taking control over your own life and joining others to fight for justice. Groups and people will want to treat you like a victim – say you are traumatized and incapable of making basic decisions about yourself. They will tell you they know best and act like they know best. Tell them to get lost. Three. Tell your own story. Sharing our stories, successes and failures, is a way to connect and educate ourselves. Connecting with others nationally and internationally who have been through disasters is the very best thing that you can do. Disasters and the corporations that cause them and profit from them do not respect national boundaries. Look for global justice connections. Learn from those who have been through this before. They will tell you - do not let anyone say who you are or what is best for your community – say it yourself. Those in power will blame circumstances outside their control for what happened and inevitably they will blame the victims of the disaster. Those in power will tell the people’s story in ways that makes the powerful look good. If others do not tell the truth – you do it and get your stories out. Real allies help lift up the voices of the people. Four. Value every single human life equally. Every religion and human rights recognizes that every single person is entitled to human dignity. There are no forms to fill out, no criteria to meet. Every single person no matter their race or gender or economic situation has equal value. Every person has the right to participate in the response to the disaster equally. Every single person and family has the right to repair and rebuild and participate in the decisions being made. The exact opposite occurs after a disaster. The people with economic and political power get together and decide what has to happen. They also decide which people are “worthy” of getting help first. They consider poor working people disposable and movable. Since this is an emergency, they say there is not time to allow regular people to participate in the decisions. If every single person is not treated equally before the disaster hits, they certainly should not expect to be treated fairly after. Five. Don’t wait for a leader – become one. Resist the tendency to think someone else is going to come save you. There is no leader out there. We must each become leaders and followers in order to bring about the change that is needed. Each of us is challenged to get beyond our pre-disaster comfort zone. New leadership is essential to avoid just repeating the mistakes that contributed to the disaster. Those who work for human development instead of real estate development will be repeatedly criticized as “obstructionist” by those who do not value every life equally. Be prepared for these criticisms. That is what they said about Mandela, Gandhi, ML King. Good company. Six. Prepare for a Love-Hate Relationship with the Government. After disaster, only the government has the resources to help fix major problems for the social good. We must hold them accountable and demand that the public sector mobilize and assist in an equitable way. At the same time, we cannot wait for the government. Nor can we necessarily listen to the government. After a disaster, the government will immediately be manipulated by those in power. We must both critique the government and build our own alternative community supports. Seven. Government will help businesses first and second and third, and if there is anything left, maybe fourth. Who is in charge of government before the disaster? Governments will look to privatize the public sector – housing, health, education, transportation, every system after a disaster. That was what they wanted before the disaster, so the disaster offers them an opportunity to move their plans into action. Corporations see disasters as opportunities. They look for valuable land that poor people were living on before the disaster. They decide that there is a better economic use for that land. Then they will push the government to come up with some excuse to take the land for other uses. You will quickly see that those with power and money before the disaster end up with more power and more money after the disaster. You will see that 98% of the money distributed in a disaster ends up enriching corporations. Our most colorful example is the blue tarps that the government put on the roofs of houses after Katrina. The main contractor, Shaw Group, got $175 a square to put on the tarps. The subcontracted the work out to another corporation for $75 a square. The second corporation subcontracted the work out to a third corporation for $30 a square. Who in turn subcontracted it out again to guys who did the work for $2 a square. Two dollars a square for the actual worker is less than 2 percent of what the government paid out – guess who got the money. Wonder why the Gulf Coast is not fixed up yet? This is not an accident. It is not that the system isn’t working. It is working for the benefit of those who create and fund and manipulate it. Read Naomi Klein’s THE SHOCK DOCTRINE: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It spells it out in detail. If government works primarily for corporations before the disaster, after the disaster it will be a hyper corporate-friendly environment. Eight. Disasters reveal the structural injustices in our communities in race, gender and class and are thus learning and action opportunities. Wonder about the role of race, class and gender in society? Watch what happens when disaster strikes. Who is left behind during the disaster? Who is left behind in the repair and rebuilding and planning and decision-making? Disasters illuminate injustices. There is tremendous educational opportunity to look at what really matters in our society after a disaster. The curtains are pulled back. The bandages are ripped off. Our histories of injustice are laid bare for all to see. International human rights create great opportunities to reframe the justice discussion. But just looking is insufficient. Join in solidarity with the same folks who are left out. If a disaster can be an opportunity for those interested in unjust economic advantage, why cannot we change the pattern and make it an opportunity to redistribute justice in our communities and right the wrongs that created what all can now see? Nine. A justice-based reconstruction will not be funded. Money will flow. Charities, churches and governments will send money for charitable help. If your community is trying to create a more just community than the one destroyed by the disaster, there will not be funding for that. If you are trying to make the community fairer for and with the poor, the elderly, and those who lived in unjust circumstances before the disaster – get ready to raise your own funds for your organization. Funding for charity will come, but funding for justice will not. We must insist on some transparency and accountability from the non-profits and foundations and others who have raised and spent billions in the names of those in distress. They cannot be allowed to operate like multi-national corporations – they must open their books and involve people in their decision-making. Solidarity not charity is one of the great demands to come out of Katrina from the Common Ground collective. Another is “Nothing about us without us is for us” from Peoples Hurricane Relief. After Katrina, it again became clear that decades of oil development has literally destroyed the natural protections around the gulf coast. Yet the disaster actually enriched the oil companies who helped cause it, creating their biggest year of profit in some time. Yet, do you hear the voices of those calling out for the oil corporations to be held accountable for what they have caused? Those voices are small and unfunded. But they, like so many others calling for justice, are out there and will one day be heard. Ten. Love is the answer – justice work is a commitment for the long haul. When disaster hits, there is a natural urge to work around the clock to try to set things right. After a few weeks or months, it will become clear that is not sustainable. Working 24 hours a day is going to make you as crazy as the government. No one likes a crank – even if they are working for justice. Building communities of resistance and working for human development is long-term work. Love is a tremendous source of energy. But we have to love ourselves as well so we can keep living this resistance with others. We have and will continue to make mistakes. We have to get back up, dust ourselves off, forgive ourselves and others, and get back to working in community to create a more just world. It is important to laugh too. Remember that last job held by the guy in charge of disasters for the entire US government was as head of an association of dancing horses! We can’t make this stuff up. We have to love and laugh along with our tears and rage and keep learning new lessons. Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at Quigley@loyno.edu http://www.content-wire.com/ten-most-important-lessons-learned-two-years-katrina1178146800Content Wireadminaccountability,asset management,asset management software,Business,business applications,business content,business development,business model,business need,business process,business process management,collaboration,Consultants,consumers,content management,Content Management,content management applications,content management platform,content management services,content management software,content management systems,content technology,customers need,Development,document management,document management systems,enterprise applications,enterprise content,enterprise content management,enterprise search,enterprise systems,financial management,financial services,functionality,global content,global network,global provider,global technology,java,JBoss,large enterprises,management applications,management functionality,management market,management platform,management technology,market opportunity,mergers,Nuxeo,open source,Open Source Content Management Systems,open standards,partnership,records management,Records Management,reliability,search software,search technology,sectors,server market,showcase,smart,software applications,software platform,specifically,Standards,Technology,technology platform,technology provider,transformationOpen Source ECM Provider Launches UK OperationNuxeo, an Open Source Enterprise Content Management (ECM) vendor, launched a UK subsidiary based in London. Nuxeo plans to offer its award-winning Nuxeo 5 platform and related support services to large enterprises in the energy and financial services sectors. Nuxeo announced its entry into the UK at a customer conference entitled ‘Transforming Content into a Valuable and Reliable Business Asset – The Vision for Open Source ECM,’ co-hosted with partner JBoss at BSG House, near Old Street in London. This event is also an occasion to showcase Nuxeo’s technology partnership with JBoss, a division of Red Hat and the leader of Open Source middleware. According to Nuxeo’s CEO, Stéfane Fermigier, “The UK market is the first major step forward in taking Nuxeo onto the global stage. We are offering something completely unique in the ECM market: a full-featured ECM platform based on modern Java EE standards, royalty free software, a transparent development model with an active community, combined with the accountability and professional support services that ensure enterprise-strength reliability.” Éric Baroca, VP of Operations for Nuxeo, will step in as the company’s UK managing director. “Thanks to its thriving financial services and energy sectors, the UK holds significant opportunity for Nuxeo. These document-intensive industries, which are comprised of large enterprises that need to comply with industry regulations, are ideal ‘sweet spots’ for Nuxeo.” Nuxeo says it enables customers to build and run a large range of traditional ECM applications from the server to the desktop. Nuxeo 5 addresses the full range of ECM functionality, specifically: <ul> <li>Document Management </li> <li>Collaboration </li> <li>Compliance </li> <li>Records Management </li> <li>Business Process Management </li> <li>Business Rules Management </li> <li>Retention Management </li> <li>Indexing and Search </li> <li>File Transformation</li> </ul> The company is currently recruiting sales consultants and support engineers to work in central London, and is also working to build up a network of certified partner VARs and systems integrators for the Nuxeo Partner Programme.http://www.content-wire.com/open-source-ecm-provider-launches-uk-operation-01159138800Content Wireadminaccountability,application development,bandwidth,BEA,benefit,Business,business applications,business content,business development,business opportunities,Companies,competitive advantage,content delivery,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management applications,content management capabilities,content management services,content management software,content management solution,delivery solution,Development,dynamic content,dynamic content management,enterprise applications,enterprise content,enterprise content management,help companies,Interwoven,Interwoven,lifecycle,management application,management applications,management capabilities,new business,new release,partnership,platforms,software applications,streamline,target,target address,telecomPartnership to Accelerate SOA GrowthSOA can help enable organisations to achieve greater responsiveness to customer needs, and can increase competitive advantage, through the delivery of highly-targeted and dynamic customer-facing business services. In spite of SOA’s transformative impact on both business and IT, many companies are striving to understand the full capabilities, opportunities, and challenges that SOA applications bring to their organisation. Further, new regulations mandate a high level of control and accountability for the code, content, and configurations reflected in those applications. To help address these challenges, Interwoven and BEA have expanded their partnership to jointly leverage Interwoven’s award-winning Composite Application Provisioning (CAP) Solution and the BEA AquaLogic and WebLogic Platforms, businesses can better manage and streamline SOA application development and deployment, and obtain increased business agility and improved IT efficiency. The companies say that together they provide a new category of enterprise software that is designed to enable companies to seamlessly manage the complete SOA lifecycle — from application development, to release control and deployment, to ongoing management and reuse.http://www.content-wire.com/partnership-accelerate-soa-growth-01149202800Content Wireadminaccountability,accuracy,application tools,architectures,belonging,Business,business applications,business content,business process,business process management,business processes,business solutions,Companies,competitive advantage,complexity,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management applications,content management software,content management solution,content management solutions,content management system,content management systems,content management tools,critical business,deploy,global content,Interwoven,Interwoven,key business,large enterprises,management application,management applications,management market,management product,management requirements,management solutions,management tools,marketing,Marketing,new business,new product,priority,provide tools,regulatory compliance,revenue source,software applications,source code,streamline,value propositionContent Management For Composite ApplicationsExecutives who make a top priority of delivering an optimal customer experience soon find that the ability to develop and deploy applications quickly, without errors, and in synch across global markets forms a key competitive differentiation. This week Interwoven is launching its new Interwoven Composite Application Provisioning (CAP) Solution, designed to automate and streamline the way composite applications are modified and deployed, providing global enterprises with accelerated agility to meet changing customer needs, respond quickly to shifts in business trends, and comply with regulatory requirements. This improvement to application provisioning is particularly valuable for enterprises that deploy service-oriented architectures (SOAs). In most large enterprises, composite applications comprise the majority of revenue-generating and customer-facing applications, yet changes to this crucial software can be time-consuming, costly, and error-prone. This solution aism to ensure that these mission-critical applications are modified and deployed quickly, consistently, and without errors ? critical factors that can make the difference between keeping and losing customers. Companies using the Interwoven CAP Solution have reduced provisioning costs by an average of forty percent, eliminated errors, and delivered applications to market up to 10 times faster than before. Customer-facing applications require frequent changes from multiple sources, such as source code repositories, software configuration management (SCM) tools, and content management systems. To date, application provisioning has been a labor-intensive process that is expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. Additionally, regulatory requirements now demand that enterprises adopt standardised repeatable processes, segregated duties, formal accountability, and other controls to provide an audit trail. “Service-oriented architectures and composite applications play an increasingly central role in driving competitive advantage for today’s companies,” said Sheri Atwood, director of product marketing for IT solutions at Interwoven. “The Interwoven Composite Application Provisioning Solution eliminates the operational and compliance pain associated with these applications. It enables organisations to deploy new business solutions and customer-facing applications with all the speed, accuracy, and efficiency demanded to increase revenue, build customer loyalty, and enhance the customer experience.” www.interwowen.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/content-management-composite-applications-01111449600Content Wireadminaccountability,architecture,architectures,automation,Business,business applications,business content,business information,business model,business models,business process,business process management,business user,collaboration,content creation,content delivery,content infrastructure,content management,Content Management,content management applications,content management capabilities,content management infrastructure,content management platform,content management services,content management software,content management systems,content repository,Content Technologies,data management,Data Management,data services,data sources,delivery platform,desktops,Documentum (EMC),element,enterprise applications,enterprise content,enterprise content management,enterprise search,enterprise systems,Enterprise Web,financial management,financial services,flexibility,functionality,implementation costs,Information Management,infrastructure,infrastructure software,innovation,lifecycle,management applications,management capabilities,management functionality,management infrastructure,management platform,maximum value,Media,models,new business,new data,platforms,reliability,repository,rich applications,rich media,rich media content,scalable,search capability,search software,share information,significantly,single point,software applications,software platform,user interface,vice president,web applications,web based,web content,web content management,World,XML,XML content managementContent Management Talks To All Data SourcesThe new Documentum platform is a world's major ECM offering based on a completely unified architecture, representing a significant innovation over today's more loosely integrated platforms and raising the bar on customers' expectations for an ECM platform. With this announcement, EMC is helping customers graduate from traditional content services that address the creation, management, delivery and archival of content. Now, these customers can implement a completely unified stack that includes process and repository services to provide increased functionality and flexibility in collaboration, automation and security. Customers can now improve their ability to derive the maximum value from their information, at the lowest cost and at every point in the information lifecycle. "Content management has reached an inflection point," said Dave DeWalt, Executive Vice President, EMC Software. "Customers across the globe have come to realize the functional and financial limitations of architectures that mask loosely integrated applications with a seemingly united single interface. They are asking for more. EMC has answered the call with an all-accessible, highly scalable infrastructure for unstructured information -- a unified repository and set of services that is completely accessible by the masses of applications, desktops and systems that are spread across an enterprise. This capability makes possible entirely new levels of powerful content management. "We can now talk to all data sources, not just what's stored in Documentum," he said. Building upon already unified technologies for the management of documents, XML files, rich media, web content and business process management, the new platform further unifies collaboration, federated search and retention management capabilities into one platform. While some ECM providers layer a user interface on top of a range of content management applications, the underlying architectures still comprise multiple code bases, security models, repositories, object models, APIs, etc. EMC Documentum enables all content management applications to share the same unified architecture with a common code base, security model, repository, object model and API. This new breadth of unification across the widest range of ECM technologies offers significantly simpler implementation, lower deployment and administration costs, superior performance and reliability, and better security and accountability with unified audit trails. www.emc.com.http://www.content-wire.com/content-management-talks-all-data-sources1110758400Content Wireadminaccess control,access digital,accountability,accuracy,assets,assets management,automation,Business,business content,business information,business model,business need,business process,business process management,business processes,business solutions,business user,business users,CMS,collaboration,content infrastructure,content integration,content management,Content Management,content management infrastructure,content management solution,content management solutions,content management system,content management tools,Content Technologies,digital assets,Digital Assets Management,digital publishing,document management,Ektron,file sharing,functionality,images,information assets,Information Management,infrastructure,integration costs,intranet,intranets,investments,knowledge management,Knowledge Management,knowledge workers,lifecycle,management environment,management functionality,management infrastructure,management requirements,management solutions,management tools,Microsoft,multilingual,multilingual content,multilingual solution,multilingual support,new business,new release,open source world,penetration,People,portals,productivity,provide tools,public access,regulatory compliance,risk management,scalable,share information,streamline,system integration,tender offer,terrorist,text search,user interface,web based,Web CMS,web content,web content management,web content management system,web managers,web users,workflowContent Management To Document ManagementEktron announced the release of DMS400, a document management system that supports the requirements of mid-market and enterprise-level organizations by enabling them to bring their information assets under control in a coherent, automated way, says the company Ektron says that DMS400 enables organizations to streamline processes for creating, editing publishing and sharing documents and other assets while providing organizations with real-time monitoring of information to address accountability and auditing issues associated with managing these files. Because it's tightly integrated with Microsoft technologies, individuals can create and manage Microsoft Office files, and a wide range of additional file types including PDFs, images, and audio and videos files. It also enables users to collaborate on projects and rapidly search and access documents via the Web. In an attempt to lower document lifecycle management costs and minimize risk by ensuring regulatory compliance, organizations are seeking solutions that automate workflow, foster collaboration among knowledge workers, and improve search of documents and other digital assets. Ektron DMS400 addresses these challenges with features including: -- Collaboration tools for knowledge workers and managers to share information, work together on document and content-related projects, publish information to the Web, and foster an environment for improved productivity. -- Automation tools that provide a process-driven framework linking all workers and streamlining manual tasks, automating the steps for projects from start to finish. -- Reporting tools to place real-time information about people, process and information at the desktop of administrators and managers. Allows organizations to make the best use of resources by identifying and correcting inefficiencies. -- Search functionality lets individuals quickly locate and access documents and assets based on indexed criteria and full text regardless of whether the information is on the public or Intranet site or in DMS400. -- Industry-specific business process automation allows any organization to eliminate previously manual, paper-based business processes and tasks by automating them on the Web. -- Globalization tools support organizations' growing need to reach new markets and communicate with multilingual audiences with speed, efficiency and accuracy. Ektron DMS400 is built from the ground up on the Microsoft .NET Framework, making it a scalable solution that leverages an organizations' existing expertise and infrastructure investments. The integration of Ektron's document management system and Ektron's content management solutions gives organizations the ability to manage and publish documents and other file types to Web sites, intranets, extranets and portals. Ektron CMS and DMS solutions share a common user interface, workflow model, security model, and provide a Microsoft-centric environment for end users, administrators and developers.http://www.content-wire.com/content-management-document-management1102377600Content Wireadminaccountability,accounting,Business,business development,business process,business process management,business processes,consultancy,corporate marketing,critical business,Development,development time,discovery,financial management,financial services,Internet,internet,line of business,marketing,Marketing,marketplace,money,new business,profitability,project management,service revenue,time and money,visibilityRevenue Leaks Plague UK Creative Services IndustryUK creative service agencies are losing money because they cannot manage their teams efficiently according to a survey of 75 senior directors at creative service agencies across the UK. The survey shows that agencies lack critical financial processes like cost accounting and expense management as well as lack of visibility on internal teams and revenue forecasts. The results show agencies putting creativity before basic business common sense. The ‘Agency ProfitWatch’ survey, conducted by agency management specialist Maconomy, reveals that, despite agency consolidation and widespread job cuts (in 2002, 40% of job losses were in the creative sector), the creative industry is still failing to look internally to improve profitability. Top line findings include: • Lack of action on profitability – Despite agencies recognising the importance of profitability to their success, only half of agencies have initiatives in place to improve profitability • Escaped revenue – Only 56% of agencies have a timesheet system in place - the worst offenders that fail to fill in their timesheets are senior management• Costs uncontrolled – 35% of agencies do not have a cost accounting system in place, while a massive 64% of agencies have not put in place an automated system to manage expenses • New business black holes – Only 43% of agencies treat new business development as a cost centre and 13% of agencies have no limit on what they can spend on new business pitches. “Agency Britain is leaking revenues,” said Steve Hoddinott, UK Country Manager, Maconomy. “Creative services is a major employer in the UK yet if you compare this industry with manufacturing, or retail for example, it is very immature in how it manages it processes.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, half of agencies admit to over-servicing clients by up to 20%. But more worrying is the discovery that almost one in three agencies do not know how much they over-service clients by. Agencies that continue to turn a blind eye to over-servicing are effectively giving away their consultancy for free. “As the Agency ProfitWatch survey reveals, agencies are good at addressing profitability from the creative side: working on new great new business ideas, thoroughly evaluating the pitch process and generating creative ideas. But where agencies tend to lose momentum is in their approach to managing themselves internally,” said Anne Gregory, professor at Leeds Metropolitan University. “Agencies forget that the way they report and manage accounts can be as significant a differentiator as their creative brilliance.” Interestingly, only 25% of agencies surveyed are able to offer their clients live job/project status via the Internet. Worryingly, more than a quarter of agencies interviewed believe that offering this type of activity report creates more issues than it solves with over a quarter of agencies. “In my experience, a creative agency that is willing to demonstrate cost transparency within their reporting methods will stand a very good chance of winning business at Nortel,” said Ben Atherton, corporate marketing manager, EMEA, Nortel. “Creativity in how they handle the account is paramount but it has to be aligned to a robust and open accounting system that ensures I know where we are and what we are spending at any given time.” The message is starting to get through, however. More than half of agencies surveyed say regular reporting and good accountability not only improve client relations, but also can help boost the bottom line. "In the creative services industry, it's reputation not revenue that drives the business. However, as the marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, agencies must focus on profitability if they want to survive" said Michel Karam, Managing Director, Re:Sources UK, of the Shared Services Centre of the Publicis Group in the UK. "http://www.content-wire.com/revenue-leaks-plague-uk-creative-services-industry1099353600Content Wireadminaccountability,CMS,collaboration,content analysis,content management,Content Management,content management capabilities,content management tools,Ektron,Information Management,management capabilities,management tools,marketing,Marketing,portals,productivity,proportion,translation,Web CMS,web content,web content management,web managers,web users,workflowEnhanced Workflow Suite for Content ManagementEktron 4.7 version is adding features that give organizations control over their workflow processes: a new workflow suite automates the collaboration, management and approval of content, and allows organizations to add content process control. Site managers including Webmasters, marketing and HR managers – anyone who controls a section of a site – can now assign tasks, automate status, support messaging between users and run reports/statistics on the task or procedure. Archiving and complete history of tasks provides an analysis of the process and procedures resulting in more productivity. For organizations looking to address accountability and auditing issues associated with content, Ektron CMS300 provides them with real-time task monitoring information. Ektron’s new suite also enables organizations to easily create and manage multiple-language versions of the same content within one CMS. The workflow capabilities make it easier to manage and control the process of translating content on a Web site. The tools built into the CMS allow organizations to observe the work of their third-party translation service - assigning priorities and deadlines, tracking progress, and collaborating, all within the CMS. Ektron's CMS ships with three business-user interface languages: English, French and German. www.ektron.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/enhanced-workflow-suite-content-management1096498800Content Wireadminaccess digital,accountability,advanced technology,asset management,asset management software,Business,business content,business information,business model,business partners,business process,business process management,business solutions,business user,business users,Companies,consumer service,consumers,content creation,content delivery,content delivery service,content management,Content Management,content management services,content management software,content management solution,content management solutions,content management system,content management tools,content repository,content technology,critical business,decisions,delivery network,delivery service,delivery solution,digital asset,digital asset management,digital delivery,enterprise content,enterprise content management,enterprise portals,Enterprise Web,file sharing,global brand,global content,global network,global provider,global technology,Information Management,information technology,intelligent content management,leading technology,leading the way,management market,management product,management solutions,management technology,management tools,management vendors,market research,market research firm,market share,marketing,Marketing,marketing programs,mergers and acquisitions,metadata,metadata,multilingual,multimedia content,new business,new generation,new product,new research,new technology,oferta,People,portals,productivity,repository,research firm,sales and marketing,share information,smart,software vendors,Technology,technology companies,technology provider,technology research,technology solutions,time to market,user experience,user interface,users experience,visibility,web content,web content management,web content management system,web users,worldwide marketMarketing Content Management, definitely a trendInsci Corp. provider of enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, announced its Channel Marketing Solution, available as installed software or via INSCI hosted services (ASP), enables companies to accelerate their global channel marketing programs, reduce or eliminate marketing distribution costs, increase visibility and market share through each distributor, and improve productivity through the intelligent reuse of content for campaigns worldwide. "Speeding time to market is consistently identified by channel marketing and brand departments as their most important goal when launching a new product or service," said Henry F. Nelson, president and CEO at INSCI Corp. "Our Channel Marketing Solution fundamentally improves the efficacy and speed of content distribution and communication. Our SOAP compliant technology makes it possible for companies to easily customize the user experience or integrate with existing business workflows without having to change the way they do business." Built on INSCI's award-winning enterprise digital asset management (DAM) technology, the INSCI Channel Marketing Solution is a complete solution for the centralized management of marketing materials, from creation to distribution. The system's advanced metadata model automates the distribution of content, so companies can create secure, web-based portals for sharing and distributing marketing materials to internal groups, outside agencies, distributors, and even product consumers. Easily modified, the user interface of the Channel Marketing Solution can be customized for each user group -- distributors, vendors, agencies, and consumers can have a different user experience, viewing only the content relevant to their needs. "With an expanding number of offline and online communication formats, getting the right marketing materials to right place and time will continue to get more difficult and expensive," said Michael Moon, president of GISTICS, Inc., a leading research firm. "Smart brand-marketers must think outside the box of traditional marketing and sales support practices. The INSCI Channel Marketing Solution goes a long way to speeding the delivery of marketing materials from a brand marketer's network of suppliers to field operations and distribution partners. INSCI has done a great job streamlining this process and installing a new level of process transparency and accountability -- critical factors for on-going process improvement and cost reduction." A repository supports the full range of content used in bringing a new product to market -- from graphics and brochures to television ads and multimedia. This also includes all marketing support materials, such as pricing guides, spreadsheets, slide presentations, whitepapers, consumer research notes, FAQs, etc. The technology aims to ease the preparation of content for use in regional campaigns. Regional offices, agencies, and distributors can download a master file and modify content for use in coordinated web, print, and video-based brand and marketing campaigns. Other features include: * Web Ready: Automatic generation of thumbnail preview and proxy for every file uploaded into the system * Asset-level Security: A unique metadata-driven model ensures that only the right people have access to the right content at the right time * Metadata Management: Assigns, manually or automatically, descriptive information fields related to each file or group of files * Content Indexing: Index every file coming into the system so it can be routed and managed automatically * Transform Content: Dynamically convert files from one format to another * Versioning: Ensure that users are looking at the most up-to-date version, and automatically keep all versions available as backup * Audit & Reporting: Content audit tools allow manufacturers to track content that is being used and by whom it is downloaded www.insci.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/marketing-content-management-definitely-trend1093302000Content Wireadminaccountability,automation,browser,Business,business applications,business case,business content,business functions,business information,business process,business process management,business processes,business users,computer,computer systems,content acquisition,content management,Content Management,content management applications,content management capabilities,content management platform,content management services,content management software,content management solution,content management system,content management systems,content technology,customer service,deploy,desktops,document management,document management systems,electronic health,email,enterprise applications,enterprise content,enterprise content management,enterprise systems,Enterprise Web,financial management,financial services,financial transactions,functionality,images,Information Management,information retrieval,information technology,integrating digital,investments,management applications,management capabilities,management environment,management functionality,management platform,management requirements,management technology,productivity,recent research,records management,Records Management,research analyst,rich applications,risk management,scalable,senior analyst,senior research,senior technology,single solution,software applications,software platform,Technology,technology allows,technology platform,technology research,Vignette,web applications,web content,web content management,web content management system,web usersContent Management Does Records ManagementVignette Corp. today released Vignette Records & Documents, providing customers with a breakthrough platform that delivers compliance, risk management and business automation within a single, standards-based framework, enhancing business efficiency by allowing organizations to capture, manage and deliver information in their preferred environment. The software blends certified records management functionality with powerful production capabilities and business automation, says the company. This combination allows customers to automate business processes such as loan originations, customer support requests and claim adjudications for improved efficiency, while capturing records and process audits for compliance. The release of Vignette Records & Documents delivers on the promise of integrating applications secured in Vignette’s recent acquisition of TOWER Technology, a leader in records management, document management and imaging. With the technology, says Vignette, organizations can also process larger amounts of information faster and with fewer resources by removing paper, automating business functions and providing case workers with relevant information. Graphical Web-based case management and configuration allow customers to implement changes to automated processes without a team of programmers. Through a rich browser interface, employees are empowered to work from anywhere, reducing costs, eliminating redundancy and increasing productivity. The software is designed to help customers meet today’s compliance obligations with highly integrated business automation. With the newly launched solution, customers are able to implement a strong records management system to support stringent information management requirements of acts and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Vignette is also committed to support the U.K. National Archives (PRO) 2002 Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMS) and will seek the National Archives’ approval of Vignette Records & Documents against the PRO 2002 ERMS requirements. In addition to audit-ready automation, Vignette Records & Documents allows customers to easily capture documents and records from users’ desktops, capture Web transactions, and automatically deliver documents to work areas to eliminate manual routing. “IT organizations should consider enterprise initiatives that consolidate multiple compliance efforts and deploy a common solution to address a broad range of needs that includes but goes beyond compliance management,” said Julie Rahal, senior research analyst at IDC. “Addressing compliance as part of an enterprise’s information management solution leverages investments and leads to greater business efficiency.” “Vignette document management enabled the Society to provide far greater and more responsive levels of customer service. The solution provides a single electronic file for each customer, containing all the correspondence, statements, policies and so on,” said Dorothy Frankland, head of computer services for the Skipton Building Society. “This also greatly streamlines audit processes and helps us quickly establish that we are in compliance with Financial Services Authority lending guidelines.” Vignette also announced today enhanced storage and retrieval support for Vignette IDM, providing customers with an information management system to reduce costs and improve customer service by transitioning from paper to high-volume digital processes. Vignette IDM is a scalable, Web-enabled imaging, COLD and case management system designed to capture and manage virtually all forms of unstructured business information, including images, forms, computer-generated reports, statements and invoices, office documents, and e-mail. Enhancements to Vignette IDM include high-performance retrieval from EMC Centera storage devices and support for NetApp SnapLock for highly scalable enterprise storage management for high-volume image ingestion. www.vignette.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/content-management-does-records-management1092610800Content Wireadminaccountability,acquired,Business,business applications,business content,business information,business process,business processes,business users,Companies,content analysis,content integration,content management,Content Technologies,content technology,definitions,discovery,enterprise applications,enterprise content,failure,functionality,global content,global technology,information exchange,information technology,integration costs,integration software,investors,key business,marketing,Marketing,metadata,metadata,phrase,regulatory compliance,revenue streams,rich applications,software applications,system integration,Technology,technology allows,technology companies,technology integration,vice president,WorldClient driven discovery softwareTrillium Software announced general availability of Trillium Software Discovery Version 4, a data discovery solution in use at such global enterprises as British Telecom, EDS, Ford Motor Company, and a broad range of other companies around the world. The announcement marks another key milestone in Trillium Software's integration of Discovery from the former Avellino Technologies, which was acquired by Harte-Hanks and merged into Trillium Software in February 2004, says the company Trillium Software Discovery Version 4 adds newly developed, client-driven data discovery capabilities, including automated data monitoring, business rule validation, trend analysis and the generation of alerts when data quality anomalies are found. The introduction of business rule validation empowers users to define their own unique business rules, measure how well their data supports them and identify exceptions to those rules that must be rectified to avoid costly inefficiencies and damage to both business and IT [information technology] operations. "The appropriate establishment of business rules is unique to each organisation," said Len Dubois, vice president of marketing for Trillium Software at Harte-Hanks. "Trillium Software Discovery Version 4 allows organisations to develop rules that ensure data are in compliance with their specific business needs. Being able to run your own business rules and monitor data, regardless of point of entry, reduces issues commonly associated with enterprise failure, lost revenue, increased operational costs, and those that may cause organisations to risk non-compliance with regulatory issues such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA [Health Information Portability and Accountability Act], and the U.S.A. Patriot Act." This version also introduces user-definable Data Standard Definitions (DSDs) for setting data structure, content conditions and thresholds. Reporting of these factors may be automated and added to Discovery's built-in profiling and data discovery functionality. Trillium Software Discovery integrates directly with the Trillium Software System for data matching, standardisation and linking. Through the Discovery interface, users are able to exchange data and metadata, thereby enhancing and accelerating the process of data discovery, data cleansing and data quality assessment. Increased capabilities for integration with other applications through XML-compliant interfaces are also available in this version. "What began as basic data profiling has evolved into functionally rich technologies that go beyond merely identifying data quality problems," said META Group Vice President Andreas Bitterer. "By adding business rules and supporting standards-based integration, organisations can continuously monitor data quality within their key business processes. By reacting immediately to alerts, they can leverage greater business value from those processes." www.trilliumsoftware.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/client-driven-discovery-software1086130800Content Wireadminaccountability,Companies,customer service,Development,development environment,development time,EVER,failure,flexibility,hackers,integration platform,integration software,Internet,internet,java,new technology,software applications,software developers,software platform,Standards,Technology,technology companies,technology integration,technology platform,web applications,web server,XMLAutomated Testing SoftwareLISA 2.5 Automated Testing software from iTKO provides a no-code solution that the entire team can use throughout development, so businesses can confidently deliver mature, industrial-strength websites, Web Services and Java applications. "LISA 2.5 represents a huge leap forward in ease of use, connectivity, monitoring and flexibility for our customers, making it possible for entire companies to commit to automated testing initiatives without breaking their timeline or budget," said John Michelsen, CEO and President of iTKO. "Within 15 minutes of installing LISA, our customers are connecting to and thoroughly testing an EJB or web service." LISA consists of two components: LISA Workstation, which is the environment for defining and staging tests, and LISA Server, the "engine" that powers and controls scheduled tests and load tests. LISA was developed in pure Java and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, or any Java 1.3.1+ certified client platform. Quality is more important than ever Developers spend 80 percent of their time finding and correcting software bugs on average, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Software errors cost companies billions of dollars nationwide in terms of rework and lost cycle time. Add to this the impact of customer dissatisfaction and corporate accountability issues, and the fear around software quality is understandable. New Internet standards such as XML and web services enable applications to talk to each other and leverage existing systems with greater ease. However, the expectations of competitive businesses have grown along with these standards, driving more complex applications. Each new integration point becomes an opportunity for failure.http://www.content-wire.com/automated-testing-software1081897200Content Wireadminaccountability,architecture,benefit,Business,business applications,business benefit,business intelligence,business process,business process management,business processes,business solutions,content management,desktops,enterprise applications,enterprise portals,enterprise systems,financial management,financial services,initiative,intelligence,key business,leading technology,management application,management applications,management market,management product,management requirements,management solutions,management technology,management vendors,market leaders,market research,new business,new product,new research,new technology,partnerships,penetration,platforms,portals,product integration,regulatory compliance,significantly,system integration,Technology,technology integration,technology research,technology solutions,usability,vice president,visibilityBusiness Performance Management, a new marketBusiness performance management (BPM) market offers an integrated solution approach consisting of Web-based analytical applications providing key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be tiered and distributed within the enterprise; business plans that are intended to achieve KPI values; and actual reporting and forecasting linked to KPIs, according to MetaGroup. According to the analysts, as the market becomes more demanding, there will be consolidation of requirements around management and financial reporting (including regulatory consolidations). A key driver in this consolidation is regulatory compliance/corporate governance, as firms seek to improve visibility and internal accountability. Robust BPM solutions should be considered for both internal performance management initiatives and support of visibility/transparency requirements for regulatory compliance (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley). "Although the BPM market grew at least 10%-15% in 2003 to approximately $1.1B, this was primarily from more penetration of planning/budgeting solutions and replacements of reporting platforms, not from compliance-driven sales," said John Van Decker, vice president with META Group's Technology Research Services and lead author of the report. "This will change by 3Q04, as firms seek to optimise internal financial processes to support compliance. During 2004, BPM will grow 15%-20% as firms utilise BPM for both compliance activities and internal process management." The best approach for a BPM initiative is to evaluate integrated suites from business intelligence vendors, financial analytic vendors, and ERP vendors. Many BPM vendors have application linkages to numerous ERP suites, because they must be ERP-agnostic to play in this space. When evaluating solutions, firms must consider the following criteria: financial reporting, financial consolidation, localisation, ERP integration, support for dynamic planning/budgeting, business modeling, visibility through dashboards/scorecards, distributed access via portals, usability, and technical architecture. Key Findings and Guidance The Business Performance Management report evaluated 13 vendors. The analysis found: Leaders have invested significantly in establishing a product and portraying a vision of an integrated BPM solution. They also have firmly established partnerships with leading system integrators, which are often required to implement the solutions. Challengers have mature solution frameworks, but could benefit from more integration as well as more partnerships with systems integrators. Many of these vendors have multiple components of BPM and seek partnerships for additional modules. Followers are generally emerging solution providers -- they often do not have the investment potential to increase brand awareness and enhance their solutions.http://www.content-wire.com/business-performance-management-new-market1074816000Content Wireadminaccountability,CMS,content management,Content Management,content management platform,content management solutions,Ektron,last mile,management platform,management solutions,Microsoft,partnership,user experienceMacintosh support for CM toolEktron added a new editing tool and platform support to the Ektron CMS200 and CMS300 content management solutions Both CMS products are now available for the Macintosh platform and include a redlining versioning tool. Ektron’s eWebDiff content comparison tool easily and clearly shows the difference between two versions of a content block in Ektron CMS. This detailed tracking feature, similar to the “track changes” command in Microsoft Word, is a tool that ensures accountability throughout the content editing process. Redlining highlights modified content for ease of review. Users editing or approving a content block can compare the latest version to a previously published version, and compare historical versions to view changes made over time. www.ektron.comhttp://www.content-wire.com/macintosh-support-cm-tool