Object Design's ObjectStore Selected for Pioneering Web Application for Welfare-to-Work Program
WorkPro Helps Welfare Agencies Move Families and Individuals From Dependency To Self-Sufficiency
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999-- Object Design®, Inc. (Nasdaq:ODIS - news), the leading provider of object data-management solutions for C++, Java and XML-based applications, today announced that its ObjectStore® object database management system (ODBMS) is being used to power WorkPro®, a pioneering, Web-based welfare-to-work application. Developed for BRAVO SYSTEMS, LLC by The Kerry Company, Washington, D.C., WorkPro will be available in the first quarter of 1999.
WorkPro allows welfare agencies to use the Web to budget for, track and monitor every step in programs that move welfare dependents to economic self-sufficiency. Complex program data, which WorkPro users enter and retrieve via Web browsers, is stored in a central data repository powered by ObjectStore.
When selecting the data repository for WorkPro, Jack Kerry, president of The Kerry Company, opted for ObjectStore because of its scalability and performance advantages over traditional data-management solutions. ''In addition to the significant performance advantages over other databases, ObjectStore has an impressive track record in the field, has the smallest data footprint of any database we looked at and, from a developers perspective, required the least amount of coding,''
Kerry said.
The Kerry Company will maintain the data servers so that WorkPro users, who receive round-the-clock access to their program data, will not need to invest in extra hardware or information technology staff. Because of this unique approach, Kerry claims that most welfare agencies can be up and running within four to six weeks, depending on the state of their data.
The Kerry Company projects that WorkPro could be used to move up to 50,000 families from welfare to work within the next three years. These families will significantly improve their standard of living because even minimum-wage jobs often provide much higher income they receive from welfare. With the average family on welfare receiving $5,444 each year, the U.S. federal government could save annually upwards of $250 million.
''Many companies today use ObjectStore to power a wide variety of enterprise Internet applications, including many of the world's leading e-commerce Web sites,'' said Larry Alston, vice president of marketing for Object Design. ''The Kerry Company's WorkPro application shows how ObjectStore's reliability, high performance and scalability can also be used to solve real-world problems and make government programs more cost-effective.''
WorkPro will be employed initially by NOAH, a Silver Spring, Md.-based organization administering a U.S. Department of Labor contract for three housing authorities in Seattle, Pittsburgh and Portsmouth, Va. The product has also received interest from housing authorities in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Greensboro, N.C., and Wilmington, Del.
Potential WorkPro users include housing authorities, state and local welfare agencies, and organizations, like NOAH, that contract with housing authorities and welfare agencies to administer welfare to work programs. Across the US there are 50 state welfare agencies, more that 200 county and city welfare agencies, and some 600 housing authorities. The Kerry Company expects to license WorkPro to some 50 customers over the next three years, with each customer serving an average of 1,000 families on welfare.
''ObjectStore will give us the flexibility to expand and evolve WorkPro as more customers license the product, without requiring extensive coding or redesign of the application,'' Kerry said.
About The Kerry Company
The Kerry Company (http://www.kerryco.com) creates interlocking Internet information system businesses that build on its experience creating and managing housing portfolios and Learning Centers. |
