Starbase Announces Support for eBusiness
June 7, 2000 08:31 AM Eastern Time
SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2000--
Project Managers Gain New Control over Slipping Development Schedules and Cost Overruns -- Enables Integration with Microsoft(R) Project
Starbase Corp. SBAS , the leading provider of collaboration products for the creation and management of integrated code and content eBusiness applications, Wednesday announced the release of StarEstimator, an automated project planning, risk management and cost estimation solution.
StarEstimator is designed to ensure the successful delivery of software and Web development projects, on time and within budget. As Web development projects grow in complexity, accurately assessing the costs associated with those projects becomes more difficult and more critical. StarEstimator automates the planning process, improving the probability of aligning management expectations with actual project costs and completion dates.
StarEstimator lowers the risks associated with eBusiness development project estimations of budget, personnel requirements and application delivery schedules. StarEstimator, with import capability to Microsoft Project, is an integrated member of the newly expanded StarTeam family of products.
StarEstimator features a complete project baseline by providing the necessary steps for accurate estimation. StarEstimator provides the structure for defining the project, analyzing the size of the application, specifying the languages to be used, examining the team's capability, addressing management constraints, and finally tabulating the results and testing the methodology employed.
Every project is divided into eight phases: analysis, design, coding, testing, validation, configuration management and quality assurance, management, and documentation. Exact percentages of the project estimation are pre-allocated, but can be customized to meet individual program requirements.
"The risk of failure for IT development projects in the digital age is significant: fewer than 15% of projects (including integration projects) are implemented on time and within budget. CIO's should initiate a new application development (NAD) risk analysis process to evaluate project portfolios at conception and employ risk-based project selection criteria to support portfolio design, make buy/build decisions, establish priorities, and measure ROI," as stated by Al Passori, vice president of META Group's Executive Directions, and Karen Rubenstrunk, senior vice president and director of META Group's Administration.
"Accurately estimating the time, complexity and resources required to build Web projects is critical to a development organization's success," stated Lydia Patterson, vice president, Starbase products group. "StarEstimator will aid project managers in effectively managing corporate IT assets, and will assist them in securing the greatest return on their investment."
StarEstimator conveniently creates a complete estimation of cost, schedule, tasks, deliverables, maintenance and support requirements for virtually any type of software or Web project regardless of language or platform. Once the project model has been reviewed, refined and accepted by the project team, it can be imported into Microsoft Project and then into StarTeam.
The model is used within StarTeam to define tasks for the project team members. During the project lifecycle, StarTeam keeps track of actual task completion and task redefinition. Periodic reports from StarTeam can then be used to refine the StarEstimator project model, providing project management with ongoing up-to-date estimation of costs, schedules, tasks, deliverables and risk factors based on intermediate project results.
-- StarEstimator is the only estimation tool available that leverages seven estimation methods, and draws from a database of over 20,000 successful development projects across a wide variety of projects and types.
-- StarEstimator allows users to make environmental adjustments specific to their organization and run "what-if" scenarios. What happens if a feature is added or if deadline moved forward? StarEstimator presents the cost trade-offs.
-- StarEstimator benefits everyone in the organization: executive management gains confidence in deadlines; financial management receives realistic budgets; Web application developers work within reasonable schedules, and project managers are rewarded for achieving results on time and within budget.
-- StarEstimator is intuitive -- users are able to begin project estimation quickly. Wizards and online help direct the user through the intricacies of cost estimation methodologies.
-- StarEstimator delivers the power of much more expensive project management suites, yet delivers the focus and ease of use that software and Web development project teams have come to expect from Starbase.
An evaluation download is available from the Starbase Web site, www.starbase.com. StarEstimator operates under the Windows 32-bit platform. Priced at $2,499 for a single user, StarEstimator is available by calling Starbase at 888/782-7700 or by visiting the Starbase Web site.
About Starbase
Starbase is the leading provider of collaboration products for the creation and management of integrated code and content eBusiness applications. Collaboration is the simultaneous coordination, management and communication of geographically dispersed contributors of both code and content for eBusiness applications.
With more than 1,300 StarTeam customers worldwide, our technology supports the continuous cycle of creating, linking and managing digital assets, which comprise complex eBusiness applications. Starbase products enable users with differing technical and functional backgrounds to collaborate on the production of Web sites and eBusiness initiatives from multiple locations.
StarTeam, the company's flagship product, was labeled as "StarTeam fuels team exchange" in an early release review from InfoWorld in January 2000 and received "Two Thumbs Up" from New Media in May 1999 and Four Stars from Software Development in August 1999. Microsoft and CMP Media named Starbase the 25th fastest growing ISV for Windows in April 1999. StarTeam also received the "Best of the Test Center" award by InfoWorld in January 1998.
Companies and organizations, including leading corporations such as Lucent Technologies, Intel, BMC Software, Motorola, PepsiCo, Seagate Technology, Hollywood Entertainment, Reynolds & Reynolds Co., eTour.com, Oxygen Media, and Ann Taylor have selected StarTeam to manage their eBusiness development projects. Starbase has headquarters at 4 Hutton Centre Drive, Suite 800, Santa Ana, CA 92707. Tel: 714/445-4400. Fax: 714/445-4404. Visit Starbase's Web site at www.starbase.com.
Starbase and its product names are trademarks of Starbase Corp. All other product and company names herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
Microsoft Project is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Forward-Looking Statements
When used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes, expects, or intend to" and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any of the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (i) conditions in the general economy or the software industry, (ii) the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, (iii) competitive factors, (iv) demand for team productivity software products, (v) sell-through of products in the sales channel, and (vi) other risks described in Starbase Corp.'s SEC reports and filings.
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CONTACT: Starbase Corp., Santa Ana Ann Jones, (Investor Relations), 714/445-4440 ajones@starbase.com or Martha Ray, (Public Relations), 714/445-4531 mray@starbase.com
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