Plateau Releases Plateau 4 Learning Management System, Designed to Enhance ROI of Applications Across the Enterprise

Leading-edge J2EE/EJB Architecture, Rich Data Model and Standards Compliance Combine to Make Plateau 4 LMS the Most Comprehensive Enterprise Solution on the Market

ARLINGTON, VA October 1, 2001 Plateau Systems today announced the availability of Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS), an enterprise software application that leverages Plateau's existing depth of functionality with industry-leading architecture. Plateau 4 LMS fulfills the company's core mission: aligning learning and knowledge delivery with business objectives to enhance the Return on Investment (ROI) of all of an organization's software applications.

Plateau 4 LMS' J2EE-based open architecture allows it to be rapidly integrated with other enterprise software to directly link learning with the automated processes that drive business. This forward-looking architecture gives Plateau 4 unlimited scalability, security, interoperability and flexibility. It can be used by any business or organization to deliver targeted knowledge across the value chain - including employees, customers, suppliers, and other key stakeholders.

Plateau 4 is fully Web-enabled; J2EE/EJB-compliant; n-tiered; AICC-certified and SCORM compliant. Plateau 4 is also one of the first learning management systems to be compliant with Section 508 standards included in the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to use information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities.

Xcel Energy and Western Integrated Networks LLC (WINfirst) already have selected Plateau 4 LMS to manage learning and knowledge delivery across their enterprises. Xcel Energy will use Plateau 4 to manage a blend of Web-based and instructor-led learning for more than 13,000 employees and contractors. Xcel is integrating Plateau 4 LMS with its Human Resources and Passport Work Management Systems to automate the career development plans of all its employees. WINFirst will deliver training to sales forces, product professionals and customer service representatives in offices across the western U.S.

Plateau committed itself to creating an enterprise application that extended its reach across the corporation while staying true to Plateau's existing core LMS strengths, such as qualification and learning configuration management, domain security, learning-object based content management and adaptive learning.

Many companies who implement an LMS are looking for a way to measure the effectiveness of training. Plateau 4's ability to tie training completion to business results through other enterprise applications addresses this need directly, said Cushing Anderson, program manager of learning services research at International Data Corporation. IDC believes customers will increasingly require training effectiveness analysis and business ROI in order to justify large training expenditures.

The extended value of an enterprise-class LMS is its ability to improve business processes. Plateau's learning management systems are enabling this through integrations with enterprise software for human resources, enterprise planning, document management, e-business, call center management, production control and a variety of other business functions.

Most learning management systems deliver a Return on Investment (ROI) within learning programs that eventually levels out, but Plateau increases the ROI across multiple enterprise systems, said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. Significant and continuous ROI occurs when learning processes align with business processes on a truly automated basis.

While Plateau's customers include Global 2000 companies and organizations such as Federal Express, Nestle USA, the U.S. Air Force and Motorola, Plateau 4 LMS fulfills the learning needs of businesses of all sizes. It can be hosted externally, and its e-commerce capabilities and architectural flexibility allows Plateau's customers to deploy it in an ASP paradigm as a for-profit learning delivery and management solution.

Plateau 4 allows us to not only manage training for hundreds of thousands of airman and support personnel, but also provides the architecture to implement a distance learning initiative that will provide anytime, anywhere training to forces around the world, reducing our training costs and improving combat readiness, according to U.S. Air Force Air Education and Training Command officials.

Key Existing and New Features of the Plateau 4 LMS include:

Fully Web-enabled, J2EE-compliant EJB architecture Faster time to market, ease of integration with other applications (every function within the application can be called from an Application Program Interface (API), unparalleled solution scalability, server-side platform compatibility with virtually all hardware and software in the enterprise.
Unprecedented flexibility to build curriculums Managing objectives and content as one through creation, organization, manipulation and reuse of large and small blocks of instruction.
Best in class Configuration Management Indicates who needs to retrained and when, how much retraining they need, and automatically creates audit records to track change history.
Industry-leading CFR Part 11 Compliance Bulletproof audit trails and robust signature security features already being used by the world's leading health care and pharmaceutical companies.
AICC-certified online courseware management, tracking and launch Ensures interoperability across all learning content
Succession Planning and career planning tools to support objectives Includes skill gap and best candidate analysis, succession planning, career planning, secure competency assessment data, audit trail and support for multi-rater assessment strategies
E-Commerce support All of the interface and data tools needed to support B2B and B2C e-commerce applications
Domains for data ownership Support for data ownership to accommodate an organization's business structure, allowing for improved security and performance
New, simplified user interface Students and administrators will see cleaner, easier-to-use screens and displays

About Plateau Systems: Plateau manages learning and knowledge processes for organizations, improving their business operations by integrating and delivering the knowledge employees, customers and partners require to excel. Plateau's enterprise-class software supports online and traditional learning methods, and integrates seamlessly with other enterprise software applications to enhance their value and reduce the cycle of learning. Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is built on open, J2EE/EJB architecture, and is being used by clients across the globe, including Motorola University, Federal Express, Nestle USA and the U.S. Air Force. The company was founded in 1996, and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

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