MKS Refreshes Change Management Suite, Adds 'Dashboard' View

by Alex Woodie

MKS this week launched a new version of its cross-platform suite of change management software, called MKS Integrity Suite 2005. The suite includes updates to change management components for iSeries and distributed systems, Implementer and Source Integrity, as well as major enhancements to the Windows-based Integrity Manager component, which gains the new Requirements 2005 plug-in and a new Management Dashboard view to help users comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, has been a major catalyst for sales of Implementer and Source Integrity, says Ellyn Winters-Robinson, vice president of marketing for MKS. However, while sales have been good, many companies are still choosing to use manual processes to achieve compliance in their first SOX audits, she says. "What we believe is going to happen is, CIOs, very quickly, will say, 'Enough of this.' The manual efforts of continued compliance are causing IT organizations to defer or delay other projects," she says.

The cost of not automating compliance initiatives will be borne in the future, says Marty Acks, MKS iSeries product manager. "We anticipate many of these folks who did manual processes year one, will incur substantial costs years two, three, four, and five if they don't automate some of the things they did, brute force, by hand," he says.

MKS is targeting executives and SOX decision-makers with its new Management Dashboard, which ships as an integral component of the Integrity Manager application. (Integrity Manager acts as the collaborative workflow piece linking developers and managers, as well as MKS's various change management pieces.) The new Management Dashboard provides executives with graphical charts, reports, and metrics that track various things like defect trend rates, work status, and work distribution across the IT organization, including all major platforms and outside developers.

The Management Dashboard uses graphics to help executives grasp trends in application development

Metrics are becoming more important to chief information officers and project leaders alike, Winters-Robinson says. "CIOs being asked, 'Where is my IT investment going?' And CIOs are asking the CTO, 'Where are you spending money?' " she says. "What we've done by adding a dashboard is essential to bubble it up to management group, to provide them with better metrics and reports."

Once business managers have this information, they can provide it to SOX auditors. "What companies are being asked to do under SOX is, you have to get better IT controls in place. First have it, then document it to auditors; prove that it's being used," she says. "That's where people are having a difficult time with SOX compliance. 'Prove to me, an auditor, that you follow the process you've prescribed.' "

In his new role, Acks uses the Management Dashboard to organize various requests and activities that he's responsible for inside the MKS organization. "I found it to be an extremely good planning tool," Acks says. "I previously spent a lot of time writing queries. Now I have fewer queries, and I have a few strategic graphics."

The other new component that can help with a SOX audit is the MKS Requirements 2005 package, which was officially unveiled with the MKS Integrity Suite 2005 announcement. As an optional plug-in for Integrity Manager, the Requirements component provides a regimented process for managing and documenting the requirements stage of application development, by linking developers and their source code changes to managers and their business documentation.

A 10-user license for MKS Integrity Suite, including MKS Source Integrity Enterprise, MKS Integrity Manager, Integrity Server, and MKS Requirements, is $37,000. For more information visit the company's Web site at www.mks.com.