Pratt & Whitney Chooses Approva; Approva BizRights Software Provides Pratt & Whitney with Continuous Visibility into its Business Processes

Business Wire, Oct 27, 2004

VIENNA, Va. -- Approva(R) Corporation, a leader in enterprise controls management software for ERP business processes, today announced that Pratt & Whitney, one of the world's largest designers and manufacturers of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines, has selected Approva BizRights(R) to enhance visibility into the company's internal controls. Pratt & Whitney has deployed BizRights within its SAP(R) R/3(R) environment.

Public companies, like Pratt & Whitney, are required by Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act to document that adequate controls are in place. As a forward-looking company, Pratt & Whitney was seeking a way to ensure continuous visibility into its business processes. Approva enables Pratt & Whitney to continuously monitor and report on its internal controls, providing more direct visibility and enhancing its compliance efforts.

Approva's flagship software, BizRights, enables users to identify, document, test, remediate and monitor internal controls. Unlike audits that are completed at a point-in-time and can quickly become dated, BizRights monitors Pratt & Whitney's internal controls in real time. This provides Pratt & Whitney with the most current view into its controls and the ability to more cost effectively manage business risk.

"Since its founding in 1925, Pratt & Whitney has prided itself on creating innovative flight technology," Lou Lundquist, corporate accounting manager at Pratt & Whitney, said. "It is important to Pratt & Whitney not only to produce superior technology, but to embrace the incorporation of leading technology into its internal systems. Selecting Approva is an example of Pratt & Whitney's commitment to having world-class internal controls that focus on today and the future."

BizRights allows customers like Pratt & Whitney to have a more granular view of authorizations and configurations within their ERP system. With BizRights, financial managers can run detailed reports, selected by terms such as user and role. These managers can set customized business rules, and are notified when those rules are violated. For instance, BizRights immediately flags segregation-of-duties violations. This enables its customers to proactively manage business risk by preventing violations of business rules.

"Pratt & Whitney was looking for a way to take its existing internal controls system to the next level," Prashanth (PV) Boccasam, CEO of Approva, said. "We are very pleased that such a progressive company has selected Approva's software to advance its internal business processes. With BizRights, Pratt & Whitney's control over, and visibility into, its systems will remain as world class as the jet engines it builds."

About Approva Corporation

Approva Corporation is a leader in enterprise controls management software for ERP business processes. Continuous monitoring has become increasingly critical as companies consolidate their ERP instances, upgrade to new versions and roll out ERP to more users. Complying with government regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, amplifies the need for companies to increase the frequency, accuracy and depth of their audit process. In contrast to existing snapshot-in-time tools or manual solutions, Approva BizRights(R) product suite is an integrated monitoring business application that is continuous, business-friendly and proactive. Its business user-oriented solutions help financial executives, business managers, application security and auditors continuously identify, document, test, remediate and monitor business controls. The end results are greater visibility into business risk, improved compliance and increased efficiency. For more information visit us at www.approva.net.

About Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) company, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines.