The Structure Group® Receives Accolades from Energy Northwest for Highly Successful Project Management of PeopleSoft® Upgrade

Business Wire, Dec 18, 2007

HOUSTON -- The Structure Group[R], an industry leader in consulting and software for major energy market participants, has announced the successful upgrade of the new PeopleSoft 9.0 HRMS system at Energy Northwest. Structure was hired by Energy Northwest to provide project management, testing management and technical architecture consulting. Energy Northwest is reportedly one of the first utilities in North America to successfully upgrade to the newest version of the PeopleSoft HRMS/Payroll platform. The two-phase upgrade (8.3 to 8.9 and then 8.9 to 9.0) took six months and included migration from MS SQL Server to Oracle 10g, as well as new technical infrastructure.

"Under the leadership of The Structure Group's project manager, Travis Jones, the PeopleSoft upgrade was implemented on time, under budget and with zero defects. According to the Project Management Institute, that's about as good as it gets from a project management perspective," said Keith Cooke, CIO at Energy Northwest.

"When we started this project in April, there was considerable skepticism, both internal and external, that the complex scope of this project could be delivered in six months and within budget," said Structure Project Manager Travis Jones. "Through the amazing efforts of a dedicated team from both Energy Northwest and external consultants, we managed to achieve what many said was impossible."

About The Structure Group

The Structure Group is a leading provider of consulting services and business solutions to energy market participants in North America and Europe. Established in 1998, Structure has experience working with organizations in all stages of the energy value chain. Structure introduced Structure nMarket[R] in 2000 to assist energy organizations with the bidding, scheduling, dispatch and settlement of energy trades and ancillary services in regional power markets. The company introduced nMarket Gas in January 2006. For more information about The Structure Group, visit www.thestructuregroup.com.

About Energy Northwest

Energy Northwest is a joint operating agency (JOA), organized in 1957 and comprised of 20 member public utilities from across the state of Washington. Headquartered in Richland, Washington, the agency has been providing electricity, at-cost, to public utilities and municipalities since 1964.