GAITHERSBURG, MD, 10/23/2000 -- Lockheed Martin today announced the commercial availability of the Process Asset Library (PAL?), a web-based library that organizes business processes into one easy-to-use, online database. The PAL is structured to meet the needs of process-driven organizations, enabling users throughout the organization to access process assets when and where they are needed and allowing businesses to optimize their process management capabilities. Because the value of an organization's business processes depends on their availability and accessibility, strong process management can be vital to efficient, effective operations. The PAL makes it easy for a company to enhance its process management, and can allow an organization to take full advantage of all of its process assets. It is ideal for large, multi-level organizations looking to improve their process performance, or for any company or agency aiming for higher process ratings or ISO registration.

The PAL features an intuitive, five-tiered architecture that allows an organization to manage, add or modify assets in a manner that meets specific business needs or goals. The PAL can also be customized according to a company's enterprise objectives. Other proven capabilities of the PAL include:

Robust change management that allows processes to evolve with business needs
A section for sample assets that gives users easy access to best practices, lessons learned, and sample templates and assets
User-friendly, uniform navigation coupled with a powerful search capability that allows users to quickly locate policy and process assets
A web-based software architecture that enables quick and easy integration of process documents into the PAL in any format, including PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and more. There is no need to convert processes into burdensome templates

The PAL is designed to enable improved process management at every level of an organization. Because the PAL is based upon an organization's business process structure, it can be mapped to any industry standard, including the Carnegie Mellon Systems Engineering Institute (SEI)? Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for Software, the Systems Engineering Capability Model, the Integrated CMM, People CMM, and ISO 9000, facilitating enterprise-level improvement. At the program level, the customizable Program Manager's Roadmap makes processes readily available to program mangers when they are needed and is a valuable aid during the critical project startup period. And at the individual employee level, the PAL's traceability feature helps users understand how processes are derived from controlling policies as well as how different processes relate to one another.

The PAL continues to play an integral role in Lockheed Martin Mission Systems' attainment of some of the highest process ratings in the world. Since March of 1999, the company's 2,600 employees have used the PAL to help Mission Systems achieve a Level 5 in the SEI's SW-CMM, the highest rating possible. Mission Systems has also attained a Level 3 Systems Engineering Capability Model, a Level 3 in the People-CMM, and ISO 9001 registration according to the TickIT scheme.

A leader in mission critical systems integration and information operations, Lockheed Martin Mission Systems serves U.S. and international defense and civil government agencies. Mission Systems employs about 2,600 at major facilities in Gaithersburg, MD, Colorado Springs, CO, and Santa Maria, CA, and is a business unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation.