ProActive Software Introduces CIR 
Customer Information Resource System 

Client/Server, Enterprise-wide Applications Improve Customer Satisfaction
Company Ships Support Advantage for Windows 3.1

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, July 27, 1992--ProActive Software, Inc. today unveiled
its Customer Information Resource (CIR) system, a comprehensive family of
enterprise-wide, client/server applications and tools designed to help
companies improve customer satisfaction for competitive advantage.
ProActive also announced immediate availability of Support Advantage for
Microsoft Windows 3.1, the first of six CIR applications, as well as the
ProActive Toolset, an object-oriented customization environment.

CIR was developed by database experts and company co-founders Steven
Goldsworthy and Roger Sippl, in collaboration with Dr. William H. Davidow,
co-author of Total Customer Service: The Ultimate Weapon. CIR leverages a
foundation of computing standards to manage the Customer Information
Resource: collectively, all the data from multiple departments about a
company's customers, products, and how customers use those products.

ProActive's system will support multiple SQL relational databases (SYBASE,
INFORMIX and ORACLE), UNIX platforms, and user interfaces (including
Windows 3.1, X-Windows, and Macintosh). It also features its own workflow
engine and Query-by-Example facility. Developed in C++ with a
client/server architecture, CIR is built around a Dynamic Application
Dictionary and the ProActive Toolset, which enables users to customize
their applications without changing source code.

In addition to Support Advantage, other CIR applications to be delivered
throughout 1992 and early 1993 are: Quality Advantage, SLT Advantage (for
sales management), Product Advantage (for product marketing management),
Customer Advantage, and Field Engineering Advantage.

"Customer satisfaction and service are the new competitive battlegrounds of
the 1990s," stated Steve Goldsworthy, ProActive co-founder, president and
CEO. "Companies today are becoming more customer-oriented in order to
compete on a global scale. CIR addresses the evolution from 'service' as a
departmental function to 'customer satisfaction' as an enterprise-wide
concern. Beginning with Support Advantage, ProActive is the first vendor
to deliver a technically and functionally rich system that facilitates
customer satisfaction, customer retention, and increased revenue." 

Support Advantage: First in a Series

Support Advantage is designed to replace simple call tracking applications,
as well as home grown, and paper-based systems that have limited
functionality, flexibility, and ease of use. Available now, the
application is targeted at Technical Support, Customer Service and Help
Desk professionals within the high technology, telecommunications,
financial, and medical equipment industries. Through its use of modern
technologies and integration with other CIR applications, Support
Advantage links customer support to the rest of the organization. It helps
the support department become more efficient, improve satisfaction, and
transforms support from a cost center into a revenue center.

According to Dr. William F. Davidow, a best-selling author and general
partner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures, which recently invested $1.5 million in
the start-up, "The customer service and support organizations of today
need much more functionality and system flexibility than is available in
current point solutions. Support Advantage goes hr beyond current service
software offerings with its enterprise-wide orientation, functionality,
and innovative use of Windows and workflow technologies. Overall, CIR has
the power to make 'Total Customer Service' become the ultimate weapon."

Support Advantage uses its technology infrastructure to provide
comprehensive functionality in the four key areas required to deliver
superior support: Comprehensive Customer/Product Database, Problem Solving
Help, Active Workflow Management, and Satisfaction Measurement and
Reporting. 

Comprehensive Customer/Product Database

Currently available on SYBASE, Support Advantage will run on INFORMIX and
ORACLE database servers on a wide range of UNIX platforms. Support
Advantage uses the RDBMS to access, capture and track complete, up-to-date
profiles about customers, the products they have installed, and how they
use them. This data includes service histories, installed product
configurations, quality data, and the status of open or unresolved issues.
Support Advantage also utilizes Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)
technology to link and attach multiple data types such as facsimiles,
documentation, graphics, manuals, and technical bulletins to a customer
case. In this way, all relevant information is stored in one places,
travels together and cannot be misplaced.

ProActive Software couples its use of the RDBMS with support for graphical
user interfaces to offer a suite of applications that are intuitive and
easy to use. Support Advantage operates in client/server environments
supporting Microsoft Windows 3.1 PCs and workstation clients. Support
Advantage and other CIR applications will also be available on X-Windows
interfaces such as Motif, and on the Macintosh. The application's
client/server architecture delivers platform scalability and
cost-effective computing performance. 

Problem Solving Help

According to ProActive sources, 80-90% of inquiries in a typical support
center are closely related to those already received. Support Advantage
builds a library of catalogued solutions to previous cases. Using the
system's Query-By-Example searching methods, users can search this library
to efficiently retrieve a solution, provide it to the customer, and move
on the next customer problem. Support Advantage streamlines the
problem/resolution process, eliminates redundant work, and keeps customers
happy. 

Active Workflow Management

Support Advantage was designed with its own workflow engine that
facilitates workgroup collaboration, and intelligent information routing
across a company. This workflow engine works with already existing
electronic mail systems and comes with its own gateways to Lotus/cc:mail
and UNIX mail.

Users can create rules that are triggered by a date, user, action or other
attribute. The workflow engine uses these rules to automatically route
customer cases and problems from one group or person to the next. Each
user or group has an "In Box" that holds prioritized action requests. The
system notifies users when special issues arise and must be addressed, and
when problems have been solved. Audit trails track and provide complete
accountability for all the steps taken to solve a customer's problem.

"Intelligent Dispatching" automatically assigns responsibility for action
on a case to the individual or group most likely to resolve it. For
example, technical problems can be routed to product experts, pricing and
industry issues can be routed to sales and marketing, and product defects
can be sent to quality assurance and engineering. In this way, Support
Advantage links the entire organization to the support group. 

Satisfaction Measurement and Reporting

Support Advantage leverages third party tools and applications that are
already linked to relational databases. It captures, reports and
distributes information on customer satisfaction levels, defect trends,
quality of service, and other customer-reported data throughout the
company. This enables managers to accurately assess customer satisfaction
levels and the productivity of their organization. Industry standard SQL
report writers, as well as popular desktop applications like Microsoft
Excel and Microsoft Word can be used to create new reports. Integrated
security features ensure that only authorized users see the reports. 

ProActive Toolset and Customization

Written in the C++ object-oriented programming language, customers can use
the ProActive Toolset, a customization environment built around a Dynamic
Application Dictionary (DAD), to modify their application without changing
source code. Customers use the Toolset to make changes directly to DAD
(the repository of all application descriptions), and subsequently the
application, in seconds without recompiling or changing source code.

Customers purchase the ProActive Toolset separately, based on their needs
and the level of customization required. The ProActive Toolset offer users
three levels of customization tools: System Administration (such as
adding, moving, and deleting users to the system, user permissions and
mail box changes); Workflow Rules Definition and Modification; and Forms
Management Tools. 

Other CIR Applications

Additional CIR Applications to be announced throughout 1992 and early 1993
are: Quality Advantage, designed for engineering and quality assurance
departments; SLT Advantage for sales organizations; Customer Advantage,
which provides a manufacturer's suppliers as well as end-customers with a
direct link to the manufacturer; Field Engineering Advantage, which
supports remote field offices and engineering personnel; and Product
Advantage, which is targeted at product marketing professionals; 

Availability and Pricing

Support Advantage is available now on SYBASE SQL Server with support for a
wide range of popular UNIX platforms and Microsoft Windows 3.1 clients.
Support Advantage will be available on INFORMIX and ORACLE, as well as
X-Windows interfaces in 1992. ProActive also plans to support Macintosh
clients. Pricing for Support Advantage starts at $25,000 depending on
number of users and hardware platform. Pricing for the ProActive Toolset
starts at $15,000, depending on the tools purchased and platform. Other
CIR applications will ship throughout 1992 and early 1993.

ProActive Software Incorporated

ProActive Software was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Mountain
View, CA. Funded by co-founder Roger Sippl and Mohr, Davidow Ventures,
Menlo Park, CA, the company's mission is to be the leading provider of
enterprise-wide Customer Information Resource software solutions. Products
are sold through the company's own direct sales force, as well as through
resellers and systems integrators worldwide. The company is a member of
both Sun and Hewlett-Packard marketing programs, and is a value-added
reseller for Sybase, Informix and Oracle.

ProActive Software Inc
1043 North Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043
415-691-1500,  fax: 415-691-1515

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