BC Hydro Selects Plateau Systems to Manage its Strategic Enterprise Learning Programs

British Columbia utility serving 1.6 million customers will implement Plateau 4 LMS to manage classroom and Web-based learning, new apprenticeships

ARLINGTON, VA -- May 20, 2003 -- Plateau Systems, the leading provider of enterprise learning management software, today announced that BC Hydro, one of Canada's largest electric utilities, has selected Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) to manage classroom and online learning for employees in its Field Services unit. BC Transmission Corporation, the crown corporation that manages BC Hydro's transmission assets, has also selected Plateau 4 LMS to manage learning and knowledge for its employees.

BC Hydro, headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., is a provincial Crown corporation that serves more than 1.6 million customers, with electricity generated at over 30 hydroelectric facilities and thermal power plants. Because the utility has a large number of employees eligible to retire over the next few years, it is aggressively pursuing a strategic workforce planning initiative to actively hire apprentices and trainees and deliver training programs, which will sustain its human capital across key electrical, mechanical, telecommunications, and managerial skill areas. Administrators and trainees will use Plateau 4 LMS' industry-leading system of qualification-based training and automatic alerts to manage, track and record their progress along the learning paths established by these formal programs.

Plateau will also provide a central, auditable repository for training records to facilitate BC Hydro's compliance with several regulators that audit the company's training system, including transportation, labour, and environmental provincial and federal ministries, safety inspectors, First Nations stakeholders and the Workers Compensation Board. BC Hydro currently has a number of stand-alone training-tracking applications that require a considerable time investment to compile evidence or documents needed for an audit.

BC Hydro will integrate Plateau 4 LMS with its PeopleSoft and JD Edwards human resources information systems. The utility also plans to integrate Plateau with a new virtual classroom based on Centra software, as well as content management tools. Students who participate in online synchronous learning this way will be managed through Plateau 4 LMS. In the future, BC Hydro also plans to use Plateau 4 LMS to capture on-the-job training events through wireless PDAs or laptop computers used by workers in the field.

Plateau will be the foundation for our strategic approach to training, now and in the years ahead, said Olivier Schittecate, Manager of Training and Development for BC Hydro's Field Services division. Several factors led us to adopt Plateau, including a multi-layered auditing function that will make compliance much faster for us and e-Commerce capabilities that will allow BC Hydro to distribute charges and track training costs. Plateau also offered a clear and simple user interface; the ability to establish different training domains and qualifications trees; very strong references within the energy industry, and an affordable price.

We're very pleased to work with an energy customer as respected and innovative as BC Hydro, which provides power to a majority of British Columbia citizens, said Paul Sparta, Plateau's Chairman and CEO. They have seen Plateau's value not just as a training tool, but as a key resource for long-term enterprise planning and knowledge readiness.

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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