Mid-market and department-level organizations will be able to implement Microsoft Project Server on an accelerated basis

Montreal, Quebec March 4, 2005. HMS announced today the creation of a new consulting package for organizations implementing Microsoft Project Server. HMS Consulting Services is a Microsoft authorized partner for the delivery of Microsoft's new epm Adoption Framework services.

"HMS has been working on enterprise project management system deployments since 1984," said Chris Vandersluis, President of HMS Software. "We've taken Microsoft's recently designed Enterprise Project Management Adoption Framework and adapted it for deployment in the mid-market and division-level space."

Microsoft's epm Adoption Framework methodology for evaluating and deploying the Microsoft epm Solution including Microsoft Project Professional and Project Server, consists of three consultant-facilitated workshops. The Envisioning Workshop is designed to assist organizations in generating a consistent vision for enterprise project management across the organization that responds to the business needs of the organization. The Planning Workshop is designed to take that vision and to design the enterprise project management environment using Microsoft Project Server, Project Professional and other elements that may be required to realize the epm vision. The Implementation Workshop is designed to condition the existing IT infrastructure and the epm system to provide a secure, stable and maintainable project management system.

HMS consultants have been trained by Microsoft in delivering these workshops and have extended this methodology to a scale appropriate to organizations just getting started with epm.

"Our technical staffs have gone through extensive training both here at HMS and at Microsoft to be able to deliver this methodology for our enterprise level customers," explained Stephen Eyton-Jones, Director of Technical Services for HMS. "What we've done with the RAF is to take that expertise and apply it in a different direction."

The Rapid Adoption Framework^TM is a two week program designed by HMS Consulting Services for organizations from 100 to 2000 employees with epm project management system deployments in the 50 to 500 user range. This program includes elements of Microsoft's epm Adoption Framework as well as the installation and training of core personnel within a two week timeframe. The two weeks include 2 days for Envisioning and Planning the epm implementation, 2 days for installation of Project Server, 2 days of Administrator training and 4 days to train up to 10 core project management personnel in the use of the basic system.

"Our consulting services division is called upon regularly to assist in the evaluation and then deployment of enterprise project management environments using Microsoft Project and Project Server," says Vandersluis. "The problem we've encountered is that for many organizations, absorbing the total scope of an epm deployment is too intimidating and for many in management seems too complex and thus too risky. While we can't wave a magic wand and make epm a simple concept, we have worked hard to reduce the implementation to a series of exercises that are more bite-sized."

HMS Consulting has also developed a range of additional modules to the Rapid Adoption Framework each of which allows a growing organization to expand the epm system in a particular direction. Additional modules include Advanced Security, Advanced Reporting Capabilities, Advanced Reporting and Custom Reporting, Project Portfolio Management, Communications and Collaboration and Integration with external Line of Business systems.

"This ensures that a growing organization which wishes to experience the full benefits of the complete epm Adoption Framework methodology can do so," says Eyton-Jones. "What we've done is reorganize all the elements so the basic system can be established and put into production first. The full depth of the program is then available on an ongoing basis as the Microsoft Project environment matures."

This pre-packaged methodology is available now from HMS Consulting Services.

For more information on the Rapid Adoption Framework or the epm Adoption Framework, contact HMS Software at info@hmssoftware.ca or visit the Rapid Adoption Framework area of the HMS Consulting Services website at C:\www\Corporate Site www.hms.ca/solutions/microsoftproject/consulting/raf.

About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

About HMS Software Based in Montreal, Canada with offices in Toronto, HMS Software has been a leading provider of project management and enterprise timesheet systems since 1984. HMS Software's first customized timesheet application was written in 1984. With the launch of TimeControl as a commercial application in 1994, HMS Software began servicing clients worldwide. HMS Software's client list reads like a who's who of business. It includes Alcan, CAE Electronics, EDS, Ericsson, L3 Defense (formerly Bombardier Defense Systems), General Motors, IBM, Credit Suisse/First Boston, Dofasco Steel, Kelly Services, Mercury Marine, Motorola, the American Red Cross, Stolt Offshore, Weyerhaeuser and hundreds of others.

HMS has representatives or distributors in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UK, and the U.S.

HMS Software has numerous alliance partners. It is a Microsoft Certified Partner and one of only 19 Microsoft Project Solution Partners named by Microsoft to the Premier level. It is also part of the Primavera, Welcom and Oracle partner programs.

For further information, please visit the HMS Software Website at www.hmssoftware.ca.

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