MetricStream Announces Two New Quality Solution Modules

Modules will enable manufacturers to increase customer loyalty and reduce product liability & risk

Redwood Shores, CA - October 17, 2005 - MetricStream, Inc., a market leader in the enterprise-wide quality and compliance market today announced the availability of two new modules for its customer quality solution. The two modules, customer issue management and product change notification, allows MetricStream to continue to provide the most comprehensive and unique customer quality solution in the market today.

Visionary organizations are realizing that handling and resolving product quality issues reported by customers in a consistent and predictable manner is the key to high customer retention. In addition, proactive communication of product changes, obsolescence, alerts and recalls to affected customers is critical to ensuring customer loyalty while reducing product liability and risk. Moreover, companies who have adopted ISO standards have to ensure that their organization adheres to a standardized process for managing customer related issues. The two modules announced today implement best practices for recording and managing product-related issues reported by customers and for planning and managing product change-related issues affecting existing customers. With these two modules, MetricStream provides an end-to-end solution for customer quality, including customer issue management, corrective action management, change notification, document management, audit management and customer/supplier access.

"MetricStream worked very closely with our quality and reliability organization to develop these two modules," said Mark Rioux, VP of Worldwide Quality & Reliability at Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE::FCS). "We believe that these modules capture the best practices in customer quality management in the industry today".

"We want to continue to be the most compelling quality and compliance management solution in every one of our target segments", said Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream. "By partnering actively with innovative customers, we ensure that our products continue to lead the industry".

Key Capabilities of the new modules:

Customer Issue Management: This module allows a manufacturer to start the process for investigation and tracking of customer-report quality issues by tracking issues in specific terms and performing containment as well as failure analysis and determining if corrective actions need to be initiated. Key capabilities include:

• Issue Recording and Verification: Define quality problem reported by customers in measurable and specific terms; record device markings to identify failed components and trace their manufacturing history; and select the investigation team and conduct initial verification of the problem.
  
  
• Containment and Failure Analysis: Take containment action while quality analysts do failure analysis; follow standard failure codes and assign code to each failed component. Attach relevant failure analysis and other documents that get consolidated in the final report to the customer.
  
  
• Generate the final "8D" report to the customer automatically using the desired template applicable to the particular customer. The final report can be printed in Microsoft Word or Adode PDF format, and a permanent copy of the report is associated with the record and stored in the system for historical and audit purposes.
  
  
• Reports and Metrics: Get complete real-time visibility into open case counts, closed case counts, open case count by age, etc. Executive dashboards provide an instant visual representation to the status of customer reported issues, enabling an organization's customer-facing representatives to provide the real-time feedback customers demand. Comprehensive reports for internal tracking and review as well as for status reporting to the customer in prescribed formats are all available.
  
  

Change Notification: This module enables manufacturers to standardize the processes for initiating and communicating products changes to enable systematic decision-making and timely communication to all affected customers as well as internal groups. The module covers product changes as well as product obsolescence, alerts and recalls. Key capabilities include:

• Plan and Initiate: Identify required product changes and schedules in a horizon report; propose products for obsolescence and discontinuation; and analyze customer and internal processes that will be affected.
  
  
• Approval and Execution: Consolidate proposed changes for review by a central approval committee; seek and track approvals from affected customers and account managers for upcoming changes; and issue timely notifications to sales and customers for obsolescence.
  
  
• Reports and Metrics: On-demand reports and executive dashboards provide visibility into product change data by types, product lines, part numbers, customers and regions. Graphical displays enable easy tracking of planned and unplanned changes, approved and rejected changes, cycle times and customer approval status.
  
  

About MetricStream
MetricStream is a market leader in Enterprise-wide Quality and Compliance Management for global corporations. MetricStream solutions are used by leading corporations in diverse industries such as Automotive, Food, Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing and Electronics to manage their quality processes, regulatory and industry-mandated compliance and corporate governance initiatives. Key MetricStream customers include Pfizer, Hitachi Computer Products (America), TaylorMade-Adidas Golf, Cannon-ITT Industries and Fairchild Semiconductor. MetricStream is headquartered in Redwood Shores, California and can be reached at www.metricstream.com

Media Contacts:
Laurie Gibson, B3 Communications
lgibson@b3communications.com
650-969-0764