Internal Revenue Service Selects Plateau 4 LMS to Manage Training for 100,000 Employees

Plateau 4 Learning Management System to integrate with several software applications to automatically deliver required training and track competencies and skills of IRS employees

ARLINGTON, VA, November 13, 2002 Investing in employee training and development is a key priority for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Service is committed to providing top-quality training for its employees, and continually strives to implement new learning technologies that will enhance its ability to deliver quality and efficient training programs.

Plateau Systems, a provider of enterprise software that manages all of an organization's learning and knowledge, today announced that the IRS has selected Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) as the core platform to manage and deliver a major new e-Learning initiative transferring as much as 50 percent of its learning material online by 2006. The IRS is planning for a phased implementation approach. After full implementation, Plateau 4 LMS will schedule, manage and track all classroom and on-the-job training for 100,000 IRS employees, allowing the agency to use the method of instruction that best fits its organizational need.

Under the multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract, the IRS will use Plateau 4 to reduce training and facility costs and enhance the ability of employees to access critical information in real time. Plateau 4 will give administrators the ability to assess the skills of IRS employees and customize instruction based on their individual needs. It also will automatically alert by email all agents affected by tax code revisions and procedure changes that require retraining. Automating this process of managing and delivering thousands of training revisions greatly reduces error, and improves customer service.

Plateau 4 LMS is the only enterprise-class LMS built on open, J2EE/EJB architecture. The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently cited J2EE as an open technology with proven industry standards, and ranked it the highest of any architecture on a 24-point scale for Web services, File Transfer Protocol and email. Plateau 4 also complies with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which demands that software used by government agencies be accessible to those with disabilities.

The IRS plans to integrate Plateau 4 with its human resources and document management systems to automate the business processes associated with learning. Previously, the IRS mapped out training requirements on spreadsheets and legacy systems that could not provide a holistic view of the organization's training needs.

We are extremely proud to be working with the IRS as they move aggressively to make training an organizational asset, said Paul Sparta, Plateau's Chairman and CEO. Keeping 100,000 employees up-to-date on a very complex tax code is a monumental task, which will be made far easier by managing a mix of e-Learning and classroom learning on one enterprise platform.

About Plateau: Plateau's enterprise-class software manages all of an organization's learning and knowledge on one scalable platform. Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is built on Web-based J2EE/EJB architecture, and is the engine behind the largest e-Learning initiatives in the corporate, non-profit and government markets. Plateau 4 LMS automates the management and delivery of online and classroom learning, organizational knowledge and competencies for clients including the American Red Cross, Motorola, Union Pacific and the U.S. Air Force. Plateau is listed as a leader in LMS evaluations from Gartner Inc. and META Group. The company is headquartered in Arlington, VA. For more information, please visit www.plateau.com.

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