Online dashboards provide transparent, real-time view of complete supply chain, capabilities such as management by exception

Pasadena, CA - March 25, 2002 - eConnections, Inc., the leading provider of extended supply chain intelligence solutions for the electronics industry, today announced immediate availability of Quote Manager (eCQM) 2.0, the only strategic sourcing solution that provides real-time connectivity and visibility across the entire supply chain.

Version 2.0 builds on eCQM’s proven functionality, which has enabled customers to reduce quote cycle time by 50 to 65 percent. eCQM’s Web-native, hosted architecture delivers the fastest time-to-value for strategic sourcing, since it can be implemented in days or weeks with low risk, and provides rapid ROI based on immediate cost savings and instant supplier compliance.
Significant new features of eCQM 2.0 include:

• Real-time dashboards that allow, among other things, constant supplier response monitoring and expediting, and management by exception supported by instant views of detailed management exception lists.
• Online, real-time analysis and management capabilities - spanning the extended supply chain - that provide transparent, real-time intelligence to help companies make better sourcing decisions.
• Contract pricing management that allows partners to more effectively collaborate by leveraging their existing business relationships.

"Online strategic sourcing is a real-time, ‘right now’ process for making strategic supply chain decisions and managing partner relationships,” said Rob Rodin, president and CEO of eConnections. “eCQM 2.0’s tightly coordinated processes and communications effectively manage the extended supply chain.”

Leveraging Supply Chain through Enhanced Connectivity

eCQM is already recognized as the authorized strategic sourcing solution for the electronics industry, with more than 1,500 participating suppliers. In its first year, eCQM processed more than $7 billion in quotes, providing access to more than 15 million part numbers and more than $10 billion in available inventory. It is part of a suite of seamless strategic sourcing solutions from eConnections that include Demand Manager (eCDM), Inventory Manager (eCIM) and Supply Manager (eCSM).

eCQM, as part of the eConnections suite, is the only strategic sourcing solution that enables authorized connectivity across the entire supply chain. Using eCQM, multiple partners - from different organizations using disparate systems - can simultaneously work together in real time to review and modify the same quote. As a result, electronics firms can negotiate more effectively and efficiently, closing RFQs more quickly and achieving a true collaborative environment for customers and suppliers alike.

RFQ Dashboard

• The new RFQ Dashboard provides an immediate, real-time understanding of a quote’s status by supplier, including the identification of specific supplier response issues. Visual progress updates all have a time/date stamp and offer access to detailed, specific quote data along with drill-down visibility into specific supplier line items. The one-button, auto-expedite function means expedites can be sent instantly to appropriate supplier contacts.
• Complementing the RFQ Dashboard is a new quote activity tracking feature, which provides an audit trail for all quote activities, including who made which changes or updates.

Extended Analysis

• Extended quote analysis allows partners to rapidly evaluate and identify the best quote responses, and differentiate between “must have” and “best possible” criteria through features such as combined filter and sort, multi-level sort, and the ability to filter by one or many criteria.
• In enhanced analysis page includes a progress box on line items and instant drill-down to a detailed exception list, so partners have an immediate, real-time understanding of line-item status and can rapidly identify problem areas by supplier and line item.
• Multiple-costed BOM scenarios can be saved and compared in order to explore the impact of changing criteria.

Contract Pricing Management and Non-Material Charges

• New contract pricing management enables the quoting process to more fully reflect partners’ business relationships. It manages and stores multiple contracts and provides automatic notification of available contract pricing. It also offers flexible usage options. As a result, partners can leverage pre-negotiated pricing and eliminate unnecessary quoting. They also can include negotiated business terms in the quoting process or use pre-negotiated prices as target pricing.
• Non-material charges tracking permits companies to understand and manage their full cost impact by including such factors as labor, programming, testing, tape and reel, and non-recurring engineering costs in their evaluations.

Navigation and Search

• A new visual alternates display allows partners to fully understand all quote parameters - evaluating the full value of the quote, not just the lowest price - by displaying symbols for different alternate types, as well as obsolete items and crosses.
• A new embedded search engine improves navigation and speeds processing by allowing partners to access RFQs directly by RFQ number, as well as line items within an RFQ by customer or manufacturer part number, description, or the name of a manufacturer or supplier.

Enhanced Communications and Documentation

• New flexible documentation options make it easy to provide more complete, accurate quote responses, enhance information confidentiality and reduce information clutter. Users can attach PDF, GIF, BMP, Gerber, Zip, Word Doc or other documents either to RFQs or to line items.
• Direct quote updates by customer reflect the outcome either of verbal or e-mail negotiations; customers can rapidly correct input errors without having to upload the entire quote again. Changes are tracked in the activity log, with notation of date, time and user.
• Enhanced e-mail options allow rapid problem resolution since e-mails can be sent in real time, from within the application. E-mails also are tracked in the activity log.

Web-Hosted Benefits Include Highly Secure Environment

• As a web-hosted solution, eCQM provides ease of use, scalability, fast implementation, instant partner compliance and rapid ROI not possible with traditional, inside-the-firewall software solutions.
• Because the eConnections application suite is built on a Web-native, J2EE-compliant infrastructure (featuring Web Logic application servers, and WebMethods and XML connectivity) we deliver excellent reliability, scalability and integration with in-house systems.
• eConnections delivers a world-class security infrastructure that equals or surpasses most internal corporate networks, including 24x7 monitoring and incident management with alarms; latest firewall technology; Intrusion Detection System (IDS); digital certificates (X.509); Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology using 128-bit encryption; and S/MIME.
• Application Security includes requirements for user authentication and authorization; centralized privilege management; hierarchical role-based user administration; and revocation of user credentials.

About eConnections

eConnections is the leading provider of extended supply chain intelligence solutions specifically designed for collaboration to manage the electronics industry’s global marketplace. eConnections offers hosted supply chain services that combine embedded domain expertise with authorized connections to a community of more than 1,500 of the world’s leading suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers’ representatives. eConnections provides electronics companies with trusted, net-native solutions that streamline the complexity of the supply chains in which they operate and enable them to get the right product to the right place, at the right time, in the most efficient way possible. eConnections, a privately held company, is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif. For more information, please visit www.eConnections.com.

Public Relations Contact
Meredith Mills
Blanc & Otus
(415) 856-5156
mmills@blancandotus.com