Harcourt Assessment Enhances Customer Experience with Harcourt Spectrum; Runs on IBM's Websphere Portal Software, Easy to Order and Track Test Materials and Manage Assessment Programs

Business Wire, May 19, 2005

SAN ANTONIO -- Leading test publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc. has introduced Harcourt Spectrum(TM), a friendly Internet portal that makes it easy for customers to order test materials, track shipments, manage enrollment and student data, and update organizational information.

Harcourt Spectrum enables these tasks in a highly secure, highly available environment through any commercially available Web browser and an Internet connection. No additional hardware or software is required to begin using Harcourt Spectrum.

When fully implemented later this year, Harcourt Spectrum will give customers complete visibility into their assessment programs and an unprecedented ability to manage their programs online.

Harcourt Spectrum will be offered initially for custom assessment programs and later for the company's education, psychology and other catalog products.

Currently in use with select customers, Harcourt Spectrum provides a single "gateway" into Harcourt, and is tightly integrated into Harcourt's proven back-end systems to provide customers with a seamless experience from beginning to end.

Because it was designed to be flexible, Harcourt Spectrum can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each customer and is easily configured to use the customer's familiar terminology, logos and branding.

"The overall functionality of the portal is always the same, but the way people view and interact with the system can be adapted for each customer," said Robin Gunn, senior vice president of custom assessment programs at Harcourt Assessment.

"Our goal was to create a familiar and comfortable environment for our customers and to make it as easy as possible for them to do business with us. And because Harcourt Spectrum is available 24x7, customers can access Harcourt services at their convenience," Gunn added.

Harcourt Spectrum is powered by IBM's Websphere Portal software. Harcourt selected IBM as a key technology partner based on IBM's proven track record of delivering technology solutions that are both reliable and scalable to meet the heavy demands and complex needs of today's businesses.

"We are pleased to partner with Harcourt to deliver industry-leading solutions to the education market," said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Software Group. "Harcourt Spectrum running on IBM's Websphere Portal software is designed to help customers manage their assessment programs more productively and efficiently."

"The partnership with IBM is vital to Harcourt's technology strategy," said Everett Plante, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Harcourt Assessment. "The strengths that IBM brought to the table to develop Harcourt Spectrum were critical to the success of this project."

The current release of Harcourt Spectrum supports the following
services:

    --  Order Management and Tracking -- Customers can order test
        materials and monitor the status through the entire order
        lifecycle. This includes tracking orders as they move through
        Harcourt's fulfillment systems, and tracking shipment status
        as the order makes its way to the customer's doorstep.

    --  Organization and Enrollment Management -- Customers can submit
        organization and enrollment data, uploaded from a customer's
        file or entered directly online. Information can be updated
        real-time to ensure that Harcourt has the most current
        information to support the customer's program.

    --  E-mail Notification -- Customers can request e-mail
        notifications when specific events occur, such as an order
        shipment.

    Later this year, Harcourt Spectrum will support these additional
services:

    --  Student Data Management -- Customers will be able to upload
        and maintain student demographic data throughout the testing
        window, as well as during scoring and reporting. This
        capability will set the stage for longitudinal tracking of
        assessment results throughout a student's education.

    --  Results Management -- Customers will be able to view and print
        score reports. Additionally, this service will integrate into
        Harcourt Results Online for rich online reporting of
        assessment results.

    --  Scoring Order Management -- Customers will be able to track
        the status of scoring orders.

    --  Collaborative Services -- These services will enable instant
        chat with Harcourt's customer support center, instant messages
        with Harcourt colleagues, as well as discussion boards and
        document libraries.

Based in San Antonio, Harcourt Assessment is a leading provider of high-quality assessment instruments and testing programs used by educators, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, human resource professionals, admissions and credentialing professionals, and businesses. Through the development of custom statewide educational testing programs, Harcourt is helping more than 20 states meet the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.