Re: BPCS Version 8

[kmiller@xxxxxxxx]

I wanted to take a moment to respond to the following message, posted by Tom
Soprano on 8/13/01, but as I was not involved in all decisions concerning
V8.0.00, I took some time to discuss each of these with Martin Ambrose, VP
Solution Management.   Here is the feedback I got from Martin.

1.   V8 was never beta tested.  It was developed in 3 different R & D locations
(Chicago, Toronto and the UK) and never really functionally tested together.

Where SSA GT, or indeed any software vendor chooses to develop or design their
solutions is not the issue.   SSA  GT has often used resources from these three
sites.  The real issue is the calibre of the process  employed to bring the
product to market.  The processes that SSA GT uses were independently audited
by ARC.    For more information on this process, go to our web page and look
under the product/industry pages.

SSA GT has demonstrated it capabilities through the timely and effective release
of V6.1.01 in April of 2000, Process Manager  in January of 2001 and of course
V8.0.00 in June of this year.

BPCS V8.0.00 has been completely unit and system tested based on very rigorous
test scripts.  Prior to release, it was put through it's paces with the field
organizaiton with specialists from services, pre-sales and industry business
champions which resulted in a positive bill of health.  SSA GT is very pleased
and excited with this release.

2.   The CPG User Group was so upset at the lack of testing that SSA decided to
pull back from the general availability to controlled distribution instead
inorder to allow for some type of testing at the client level.

This is simply incorrect.

3.   We were also awaiting V8.1 which we were told by the last CEO would be
delivered in December of this year.  Now we are now hearing that it will not
happen and no new date has been scheduled. Quite disappointing to us as the new
company is being to lose credibility.

As with any development plan, it gets reviewed on an on-going basis.  There have
been no published changes to the plan to date.  However, all will be revealed at
the September user conference.

I hope this helps answer some of the questions raised in Tom's e-mail.  If you
have individual questions, as always feel free to direct them to me
individually.

Kari Miller
Director, NA Business Consulting