NETD.L Regulatory News (NETD)

26 October 2010

NetDimensions (Holdings) Limited

Mace and NetDimensions Collaborate to Streamline Performance Appraisal with EKP

NetDimensions (London Stock Exchange, AIM: NETD), a global provider of performance, knowledge and learning management systems, announced today that it has successfully delivered a solution that will enable Mace to effectively and efficiently manage performance appraisals for thousands of employees around the world.

Mace, a leading international consultancy and construction company, worked closely with NetDimensions over the last few months to enhance the performance appraisal functionality of the Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP) learning and performance management system.

Trina Sollis, Head of Learning & Development at Mace, said: "For the last six years, we have been using an appraisal system developed in-house that consisted of dispersed documents that included an online appraisal form, a spreadsheet listing competencies and a text document outlining career development plans.

"It was impossible to track and capture important information such as skills, performance metrics, development needs and career aspirations of our employees. As our company expanded globally, limited access to the online form and the growing need for localized content became significant problems that had to be addressed immediately."

Addressing the Needs of a Global, High Performance Workforce

Mace needed a performance appraisal system that will cater to all of its 2,800 employees spread across various disciplines, business areas, sectors and geographical locations and countries. The system also had to show a clear connection between corporate development requirements and the technical and professional roles of employees within the business, as well as how they fit together. As an equal opportunity employer, Mace also needed to ensure that its appraisal process supports multiple languages so that every member of the organisation can take part and ultimately benefit.

"With the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that we can clearly demonstrate to our clients the competence and high performance of our people. We have an extremely experienced and well qualified workforce," explained Sollis.

"Training and developing yourself at Mace is second nature. However, we could not evidence this in a way that we could show in areas such as the bidding and winning work process."

Vendor-Client Collaboration is Key

"Mace has been using EKP as a knowledge center for delivering guides and manuals and presentations by senior executives," noted Jay Shaw, NetDimensions' Managing Director and CEO.

"Although EKP is able to meet their training needs, NetDimensions understands that as a company grows, the technologies that enable it to operate successfully as a global organization must grow as well. This is why our products were developed from the very beginning with change in mind."

Mace wanted a sophisticated solution that could provide good evaluation methods and also be flexible enough so that as the organization's structure changed, the appraisal process could be adapted in a timely way without needing the intervention of a software provider.

"Although a performance review feature exists in earlier versions of EKP, it was not flexible enough to cater for the needs of different clients. The solution was to strengthen the integration between EKP's competencies and performance review functionalities," explained Shaw.

By using the performance appraisal process developed by the Learning & Development team at Mace as a model, NetDimensions' Engineering and Professional Services teams developed a Performance Appraisal Editor - enabling users to create a number of appraisal templates that can include elements such as past achievements, competencies, training records, future objectives, career development and learning paths.

"We will initially rollout the new EKP appraisal system in three areas of our business in the last quarter of 2010. We intend to eventually implement it to the rest of our company in the first quarter of 2011," added Sollis.

"Moving forward, we will look into further developing the system with NetDimensions, from basic enhancements such as spell checking to more advanced features such as automating the upload of grades against competence."

About Mace:

Mace is an international consultancy and construction company with a £700m+ turnover in 2009, employing 2,900 people and operating across 49 countries. The group's core business is programme and project management, construction delivery, quantity surveying and facilities management but is truly multi-disciplinary with services spanning the entire property life cycle. For more information visit: www.macegroup.com 

Media contact for Mace:

Catherine Button, Head of Marketing & Communications, Mace - catherine.button@macegroup.com / +44 (0)7766 305 178

About NetDimensionsEstablished in 1999, NetDimensions (London Stock Exchange, AIM: NETD) is a global provider of performance, knowledge and learning management systems. The company's key products include the Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP), the Enterprise Assessment Platform (EAP) and the Enterprise Content Platform (ECP).

NetDimensions products and services help companies deliver and manage corporate training, career development, assessment and certification programs, and help clients around the world address growing regulatory compliance needs.

Recognized as one of the top-rated learning technology suppliers in overall customer satisfaction, NetDimensions has been chosen by multinational organizations worldwide including HSBC, ING and Cathay Pacific.

NetDimensions is ISO 9001 certified and NetDimensions hosted services are ISO 27001 certified.

Enterprise Knowledge Platform and EKP are trademarks of NetDimensions Ltd. For more information, visit www.netdimensions.com

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