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ThyssenKrupp Budd Company Deploys Plumtree-Powered Applications Across 30 Manufacturing Plants Executive Dashboard, CEO Update Application and Plant Scheduling Application Save Company Time and Money SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Enterprise Web leader Plumtree Software (NASDAQ:PLUM) today announced that ThyssenKrupp Budd Company, a leading automotive supplier whose products are found in more than 100 current new vehicle models sold in North America, has deployed employee-facing service-oriented applications via the Plumtree Enterprise Web Suite to 1,500 employees in the U.S., and Mexico. Plumtree's technologies give ThyssenKrupp Budd an open framework for building applications that have Web-enabled critical processes such as weekly production and financial updates, employee scheduling and asset management. As a result, ThyssenKrupp Budd estimates that it has saved thousands of dollars in printing and distribution costs, reduced human resources processing time by several hours per week, and dramatically reduced the time it takes to get management an update from every company plant. "Our industry is facing challenging times; we need to do more with less and Plumtree's technologies are helping us to do just that," said Kirk Yaros, Supervisor, Web Development at ThyssenKrupp Budd. "Each of our manufacturing plants has its own set of tools and systems; with Plumtree, we are able to easily build a large number of targeted applications that span different tools and systems, saving time and money by automating hundreds of tasks." What's in ThyssenKrupp Budd's Enterprise Web Deployment? Before deploying Plumtree's portal, collaboration, content management and search technologies, information silos existed among the various stakeholders within ThyssenKrupp Budd; sensitive plant data could not be posted to the intranet because some plants were not allowed to see other plants' data. Now, through applications built within ThyssenKrupp Budd's portal, employees across plants can securely share data with headquarters, collaborate on projects via Plumtree Collaboration Server and search for relevant information. ThyssenKrupp Budd built several service-oriented applications in their portal, including: -- An Executive Dashboard: The executive dashboard allows executives and management to review monthly financials from SAP, financial forecasts in Excel files from Accounting, and sales updates from plant managers. As a result, plant managers are held more accountable when reporting their performance, and executives can make better, more informed decisions. -- A CEO Weekly Update Application: The CEO Weekly Update Application formats and streamlines the preparation behind weekly plant performance reports from 30 manufacturing plants via a workflow process and several customized portlets. Each plant manager enters eight performance metrics into a customized portlet that generates a report for a department secretary to review. Department secretaries use another set of portlets to review the reports, choose the right headers, add necessary notes and finalize it before submitting the report to the executive secretary. The executive secretary then chooses the relevant line items within the separate reports and routes a final report to the CEO. ThyssenKrupp Budd's CEO views the final report through an Executive Report Viewer after the application alerts him via an automatic e-mail. The CEO Weekly Update Application has not only streamlined a previously cumbersome, paper-based process, but it now stores a record of historical production data, allowing executives to look back and compare past performance. -- A Scheduling Application: Previously, each ThyssenKrupp Budd plant had a time sheet at the front desk that employees would sign every day. Now, a scheduling application automates this process by allowing employees to check in and out via the portal. A vacation scheduler portlet also allows employees to request time off, routing the request to managers and HR. Managers have a color-coded dashboard view of their direct reports' vacation schedule. As a result, time sheets have been eliminated, streamlining paper-based processes and reducing HR processing time by several hours per week. Plumtree Chosen for Flexible Portal Framework and Integrated Collaboration ThyssenKrupp Budd considered a solution from its existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) provider, but found that it could only build an application based on that one ERP system. ThyssenKrupp Budd chose Plumtree because Plumtree's Enterprise Web Suite allowed ThyssenKrupp Budd to build service-oriented applications across multiple back-end systems and thereby leverage its legacy systems. Through Plumtree's portal, ThyssenKrupp Budd could then manage those applications centrally. Plumtree Collaboration Server was chosen because ThyssenKrupp Budd could migrate from its costly, existing Web-based content management solution to Collaboration Server, saving money, while giving employees a seamlessly integrated experience of collaboration within their portal. About Plumtree Software Plumtree Software is the Enterprise Web leader. Plumtree's mission is to create a comprehensive Web environment for employees, customers and partners across the enterprise to interact with different systems and work together. Plumtree's Enterprise Web solution consists of integration products for bringing resources from traditional systems together on the Web, foundation services such as collaboration, content management and search for building new Web applications, and a portal platform for delivering these Web applications to broad audiences. Plumtree's independence and its Web Services Architecture allow this solution to span rival platforms and systems, maximizing customers' return on their existing investments. With offices in more than a dozen countries, Plumtree has over 640 customers, including Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble and the U.S. Navy. For more information, visit Plumtree on the Web at http://www.plumtree.com/. NOTE: Plumtree is a registered trademark of Plumtree Software, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Carilu Dietrich of Plumtree Software, +1-415-399-7047, or . DATASOURCE: Plumtree Software CONTACT: Carilu Dietrich of Plumtree Software, +1-415-399-7047, or Web site: http://www.plumtree.com/

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