5/31/03
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue....
-- Quote of the Month....
-- Zoomerang Survey
-- New Book - Making Technology Investments Profitable
-- Another new book - Business Process Mapping
-- Ultimus v5.0d Web Services are now Generally Available!
-- CIO Insight Article - How do you prove IT Value?
-- How can we help you?
-- Smart Metrics for IT...
-- Can you help us find new customers?
-- Are you juggling lots of projects???

Dear Frank,

There's been a lot of information published this month so I'm sending this out early (this newsletter template has a limit of 12 articles). I'm also trying a new feature - a Zoomerang survey. When you get your survey via email -Check it out- it only takes a minute or so. It will help us get some ideas of your workflow needs and help guide our product development.

I'll try to help keep you up to date on things going on at Ultimus and other information I hope you'll find useful. Your comments, suggestions and stories are always welcome. If you find that my efforts here aren't useful - please feel free to opt- out.

Quote of the Month....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There is nothing more difficult than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things" Machiavelli ~ 500 years ago!

What are the challenges you're facing while trying to automate workflow in your company? Share your issues, perhaps you can help someone else through the mine fields.

Zoomerang Survey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're taking our first swipe at a survey service, Zoomerang.com. We're always looking for input from our customers and prospects to guide our product development.

You'll be receiving an email survey shortly - let us know how we can help you.

New Book - Making Technology Investments Profitable
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over 50 percent of all Information Technology projects fail, not only costing companies considerable monetary investment but also thwarting key strategic initiatives for which the new technology was critical. This book helps executives and managers increase IT project success by using a process for identifying the true ROI value for proposed IT investments-"Real ROI"-then tracking project results against that standard.

This guide provides an abundance of pragmatic tips, tools, and techniques to make the process easy to understand, focusing on implementing an ROI plan as well as on tracking IT investments and measuring results postimplementation. A small criticism... the book refers to tools that the author sells as part of his consulting practice. It's kind of a commercial but there is EXCELLENT advice for proving your next IT investment.

To read more about this book...

Another new book - Business Process Mapping
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A holistic approach to harnessing a company's processes to achieve true customer satisfaction. Every move that a corporation makes is a mixture of input, action, and output-- in short, a process. To keep customers, employees, and shareholders happy, corporate management must juggle conflicting priorities. These competing priorities result in conflicting processes. To help achieve true customer satisfaction, management needs tools that allow for a holistic approach to analyzing these processes. This book provides that tool. It shows corporations how to analyze and enhance their critical processes in order to deliver the highest level of service to their internal and external customers. Providing a clear understanding of what process mapping can do for a company as well as practical applications for each step. This useful guide outlines a proven method for assuring better processes and building a more customer-focused company.

This book is a pretty basic primer for mapping business processes. Probably good to pass on to a new person on your team. See Amazon reviews-- wide range of opinion on this book.

to find out more about this book....

Ultimus v5.0d Web Services are now Generally Available!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ultimus Web Services adds the following enhancements to the Workflow Suite: 1) Ultimus processes can now be initiated through web services. Thus any 3rd-party application can easily initiate Ultimus processes through web services calls over the Internet, intranets or extranets. 2) Ultimus Steps can be completed through web services. Any 3rd-party client application can complete Ultimus Steps through web services calls. 3) Ultimus processes can call other web services through the new Web Services Flobot. We are now able to invoke logic in 3rd party enterprise applications that support web services.

CIO Insight Article - How do you prove IT Value?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How do you prove to your management that the money you plan to spend on IT will save $. This article identifies a number of ways to prove your case. It also also highlights strategies, pilot projects in particular, that defer initial investments until value is delivered.

To read this article...

How can we help you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're always looking for suggestions on how we can improve our software, professional services, support, etc. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments you'd like me to send up the flagpole. Almost every enhancement that's been built into Ultimus came from our prospects and our customers. Thanks!

or to suggest an enhancement directly to Ultimus

Smart Metrics for IT...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These 12 metrics, developed in conjunction with Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Litvak and other experts, are the best new ways Baseline Magazine found either to measure the benefits of technology or to use technology to track commercial success

Easy to understand... even simplistic.

To check out the metrics...

Can you help us find new customers?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you know anyone or any company that could benefit from Ultimus would you please let us know. If your referral results in an Ultimus sale we'll be sure to do something nice for you. Thanks

Are you juggling lots of projects???
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This new article in CIO magazine identifies ways to get your arms around all of the IT projects in the fire. Their methodology, portfolio management, creates a 30,000 foot high overview of your projects and tracking them to insure they deliver value.

Also a a few common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

To learn how to get a grip on all your projects...