EXPERT CHOICE UNVEILS LATEST ENTERPRISE PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS SOLUTIONS

EC11 and EC Decision Portal Provide Enhanced Usability and Flexibility for Enterprise Portfolio Analysis and Alignment

ARLINGTON, Va., July 12, 2004… Expert Choice®, a leading provider of enterprise portfolio analysis solutions, today announced the debut of EC11—the latest version of the company’s flagship enterprise portfolio analysis software—and EC Decision Portal (ECDP), an optional hosted solution enabling anywhere/anytime prioritization via the Web.

Based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)—a mathematical model that is considered one of the most accurate and successful decision-making methodologies—EC11 enables companies and government organizations to define, prioritize and align project portfolios with overall strategic objectives for improved business performance. The software guides decision makers through a process comprised of defining objectives; using pairwise comparison to identify priorities for the objectives; evaluating projects and performing “what-if” testing on them; using the add-on EC Resource Aligner™ product to determine the optimal blend of projects, given costs, risks and dependencies; and evaluating the ongoing performance of projects.

EC11 contains several new features and enhancements designed to improve usability and flexibility:

• Data Interchange—Mapping, Importing and Exporting: Integration with external Microsoft Access or SQL Server databases provides streamlined connectivity, data capture and reporting, and reduced data entry time and errors.

• Multiple Models: The ability to open multiple models simultaneously and easily drag/drop data from one model to another facilitates the model creation process and enables users to run side-by-side scenarios for expedited analysis and decision making.

• Support for Microsoft SQL Models: Converting or creating SQL models and linking to SQL corporate databases provides enhanced integration, faster model calculations, bigger models, and better search and retrieval methods.

• User-Friendly Interface: EC11’s new GUI is intuitive and enables users to view information documents when making judgments from the data grid.

• Enhanced Reporting: New functionality for external editing, creating linkages with corporate data, viewing data, and eliminating inconsistencies provides greater flexibility and better overall results.

• EC Update: The software’s new online updating capability ensures easy customer access to the latest software releases.

EC11 operates on Windows 98 SE, 2000, NT4 and XP.

To enable anywhere/anytime prioritization via the Web, Expert Choice has released a new product option called EC Decision Portal. This add-on enables users to provide input and view the synthesized individual and group results from wherever they are located and whenever they are available, thus saving them the time and expense of traveling to the meeting site. The EC hosted solution is easy-to-use, fast and secure, and merely requires that users have a PC with Internet connection and browser. Organizations that purchase or upgrade to EC11 automatically will receive two complimentary hosted decisions using EC Decision Portal.

“The new data mapping capability in Version 11 will be a tremendous time saver for us,” said John Sammarco, director of portfolio management at America Online, Inc. “By providing the capability to import and export data between Expert Choice and our other project-based information systems, we will be able to streamline the flow of information throughout the lifecycle of a project—from idea, to concept, to project, to completion,” he added.

“The combination of EC11’s unique scoring process for accurate project prioritization and its ability to help management select an optimal mix of projects is what makes it such a powerful tool for portfolio analysis and alignment,” said Rich Dougherty, chief executive officer of Expert Choice. “Now, with the introduction of EC Decision Portal and EC11’s new data interchange capabilities, we’re making it even easier and more convenient for users to quickly assess organizational investments and begin realizing ROI,” he added.

Expert Choice has more than 20 years of success in high-level, complex decision making—including IT portfolio analysis, strategic planning, vendor selection, HR management and risk assessment—for the federal government and Fortune 1000 companies.

About Expert Choice Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Expert Choice, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise portfolio analysis solutions. Founded in 1983, the company helps business and government organizations around the world with their portfolio analysis, project prioritization and resource allocation challenges. Today, more than 15,000 individuals in 60 countries, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500 and half of U.S. federal government agencies, rely on Expert Choice to help them achieve improved business performance and greater ROI. For more information on Expert Choice, please visit www.expertchoice.com.