County Durham and Darlington UK Fire & Rescue Service Standardizes on Actuate Performancesoft Suite

Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTU), the leader in Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Reporting Applications, today announced that the UK’s County Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service has selected Actuate Performancesoft Suite to underpin its Performance Management strategies. The County plans to implement both the Actuate Performancesoft Views (Views) and Actuate Performancesoft Track (Track) components. More than 26 software suppliers responded to the Durham and Darlington request for proposals and all were rejected in favor of Actuate Performancesoft Suite. High on Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service’s requirements was an application that could meet the needs of its users, and maintain performance measurement information as well as communicate strategy across the organization. Actuate won on all accounts. "To ensure we were engaging all parts of our organization in our Performance Management framework it was essential that in the future, all staff could relate to the representations of our organizational strategy to identify how their contributions help us to achieve our goals,” said Keith Lazarri, Performance Improvement Manager at County Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service. "Views scored very highly in our selection process against these additional measures, because of its user friendly interfaces and the ability to develop and customize our own frameworks within the technology. This will help us to translate the Authority’s plans in a way that our staff can easily identify with, and help them to contribute to the achievement of our core aims and the development of a sustainable performance culture.” "We are fast becoming the Performance Management system of choice within UK Fire and Rescue Services,” commented Steve Fluin, senior vice president, Actuate Performance Management Division. "Almost a third has now standardized on Actuate Performancesoft Suite and we are delighted to welcome County Durham and Darlington to that growing list. Fire and Rescue Services are now assessed by the Audit Commission and there is a growing need for an effective Performance Management tool. We are perfectly placed with this expertise and depth of experience to offer the solutions and resources needed to help Country Durham and Darlington and other Fire and Rescue services to manage, set and deliver their Performance Management goals and ambitions.” As well as using Views to develop Performance Management initiatives through product features like drill-down dashboards or user-specific briefing books, County Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service also plans to implement the complete Actuate Performancesoft Suite, including Track. This will enable them to recognize performance issues early and then follow them through to resolution via the initiative and activity management capabilities within Track. Keith explains: "Although Track wasn’t originally a key part of our specification; the potential benefits of using the complete suite are clear. We could seek to incorporate future work in the field of program and activity management into one application as an integral part of our Performance Management arrangements.” The Service is now in the process of implementing and using Views, with the help of Actuate’s Professional Service team and insight from other Actuate customers, and is already seeing the benefits of a Performance Management system. Data and knowledge can be shared through the commentary feature, and every user can see the latest performance information on their desktop to understand how each department and team contributes to overall performance. "Our implementation process is currently underway. Although there is lots of work still to be done, we are fortunate to have become part of a large network of Actuate Performancesoft users and customers, who are more than willing to assist us and offer us advice based on their own implementations,” adds Keith. About County Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service County Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service serves a population of over 591,000. It provides a fire and rescue service from 15 strategically placed fire stations staffed by either wholetime firefighters, part-time (retained) firefighters or a combination of both. Performance Management helps to implement lasting improvement and is integral to delivering the Service's vision - 'County Durham and Darlington - a safe place to live and work.’ About Actuate Corporation Actuate Corporation, the leader in Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Reporting Applications, enables organizations to develop solutions that optimize corporate performance. Applications built on Actuate’s open source-based platform provide all stakeholders inside and outside the firewall, including employees, customers, partners and citizens with information that they can easily access and understand to maximize revenue, cut costs, improve customer satisfaction, streamline operations, create competitive advantage and make better decisions. Actuate has over 4,000 customers globally in a diverse range of business areas including financial services and the public sector. Founded in 1993, Actuate has headquarters in South San Francisco, California, with offices worldwide. Actuate is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol ACTU. For more information on Actuate, visit the company's web site at www.actuate.com. Copyright © 2007 Actuate Corporation. All rights reserved. Actuate and the Actuate logo are registered trademarks of Actuate Corporation and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. 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