Artemis (software)
Encyclopedia
Artemis is the brand name of a family of software based project planning
and management tools.
system.
Metier was founded in 1976 by Richard Evans, Robin Lodge, Roy W. Brown and James Miller who programmed the original single-user version of the software in a Suffolk attic in Debach. He went on to write the multi-user version of the software with Richard Nobbs and Alan Playford.
Artemis combined project planning and scheduling with cost control and resource management. The first products were sold as turn-key systems: both hardware (the Hewlett Packard 21 series) and software built into a desk. In the early 1980s Metier launched a software-only version of Artemis for IBM mainframes.
Artemis later evolved into three major product lines to support project planning and scheduling, earned value management
(project performance measurement), portfolio management
, resource management, and time reporting -- Artemis 9000, Artemis Views and Artemis 7.
Artemis 9000 ran on both Microsoft Windows
and IBM
OS/390
operating system
s. It was a scalable and customizable tool to integrate project management processes such as planning, scheduling, aggregation, and reporting. Although the Artemis toolset was originally a mainframe based tool, by the end it could act as a server application that communicated with web based user interfaces.
In the early eighties, Metier began a project called "Artemis 2" which was to build a dedicated database machine and a new ground-up version of the project management system. The project was led by Gordon Thompson, with Alan Playford as CTO. The project grew in size to a staff of about 250 people and an army of VAX computers. The team were probably the only group in the UK to re-microcode a VAX-11/750 to emulate a different machine (i.e. the one under development). New premises were purchased to house the software, hardware, and firmware groups. The scope of the project also grew with a desire to port the new generation of the project management software to IBM mainframes, VAXes, Unix machines, and eventually even PCs. But following the sale Metier to Lockheed in 1985, the project never became a commercial reality.
Metier was sold to Lockheed for US$130m at a time when the US$ and the £Sterling were close to parity. Since then, then company has been sold many times, each time for a considerably lesser amount, and with the company often renamed by the new owner.
Artemis ran on a variety of Windows and Web based platforms using Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases.
Artemis Views was an integrated enterprise project management application that provides the capability to accomplish project planning and scheduling, resource allocation and tracking, time reporting, and earned value management.
Artemis ProjectView was a robust critical path method
(CPM) scheduling system capable of handling extremely large projects (over 20,000 individual activities) with the associated resource requirements and logical dependencies. Artemis CostView was full earned value management system and was compliant with government and industry EVM standards. CostView integrated with ProjectView to provide full cost and schedule integration. Artemis TrackView was an integrated time reporting system used to record, approve and report time charged against projects.
The last version of Artemis Views was Version 8.
The current version of Artemis 7 is Version 7.
While Artemis has provided project planning and management tools used by Global 500 companies since 1978, during the 1990s it encountered financial problems similar to many other high technology firms in the post dot.com bubble era.
In their 2006 Form 10-K filing http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1099674/000110465906021408/a06-2052_110k.htm Artemis International Solutions Corporation made the following comments:
Further on in the Form 10-K filing Artemis made the additional comments:
In July 2006, Artemis was purchased by Versata
. In order to improve the financial standing of the company, Versata/Artemis pursued major worldwide organizational changes. The most notable changes were the consolidation of Artemis's product development in India and the reduction in Artemis' employee base worldwide to the extent that the majority of employees were made redundant in Europe and in the United States.
Project planning
Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment....
and management tools.
Origins
Artemis originated as the Artemis Project Management System developed by Metier Management Systems in 1978, a sister product to Apollo, Metier's first PERT network scheduling system launched in 1977. Apollo and Artemis were the first large-scale project management systems available on mini-computers (as opposed to mainframes) and the world's first commercially successful relational databaseRelational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
system.
Metier was founded in 1976 by Richard Evans, Robin Lodge, Roy W. Brown and James Miller who programmed the original single-user version of the software in a Suffolk attic in Debach. He went on to write the multi-user version of the software with Richard Nobbs and Alan Playford.
Artemis combined project planning and scheduling with cost control and resource management. The first products were sold as turn-key systems: both hardware (the Hewlett Packard 21 series) and software built into a desk. In the early 1980s Metier launched a software-only version of Artemis for IBM mainframes.
Artemis later evolved into three major product lines to support project planning and scheduling, earned value management
Earned value management
Earned value management is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. EVM has the ability to combine measurements of scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system. Earned Value Management is notable for its ability to provide...
(project performance measurement), portfolio management
Project Portfolio Management
Project portfolio management is a term used by project managers and project management organizations, , to describe methods for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics...
, resource management, and time reporting -- Artemis 9000, Artemis Views and Artemis 7.
Artemis 9000 ran on both Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
OS/390
OS/390
OS/390 is an IBM operating system for the System/390 IBM mainframe computers.OS/390 was introduced in late 1995 in an effort, led by the late Randy Stelman, to simplify the packaging and ordering for the key, entitled elements needed to complete a fully functional MVS operating system package...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. It was a scalable and customizable tool to integrate project management processes such as planning, scheduling, aggregation, and reporting. Although the Artemis toolset was originally a mainframe based tool, by the end it could act as a server application that communicated with web based user interfaces.
In the early eighties, Metier began a project called "Artemis 2" which was to build a dedicated database machine and a new ground-up version of the project management system. The project was led by Gordon Thompson, with Alan Playford as CTO. The project grew in size to a staff of about 250 people and an army of VAX computers. The team were probably the only group in the UK to re-microcode a VAX-11/750 to emulate a different machine (i.e. the one under development). New premises were purchased to house the software, hardware, and firmware groups. The scope of the project also grew with a desire to port the new generation of the project management software to IBM mainframes, VAXes, Unix machines, and eventually even PCs. But following the sale Metier to Lockheed in 1985, the project never became a commercial reality.
Metier was sold to Lockheed for US$130m at a time when the US$ and the £Sterling were close to parity. Since then, then company has been sold many times, each time for a considerably lesser amount, and with the company often renamed by the new owner.
Artemis Views
Artemis Views had its origins in K&H's "Prestige" tool. In the 1990s, Artemis International purchased software vendor K&H and began marketing their Prestige tool as Artemis Views.Artemis ran on a variety of Windows and Web based platforms using Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases.
Artemis Views was an integrated enterprise project management application that provides the capability to accomplish project planning and scheduling, resource allocation and tracking, time reporting, and earned value management.
Artemis ProjectView was a robust critical path method
Critical path method
The critical path method is an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is an important tool for effective project management.-History:...
(CPM) scheduling system capable of handling extremely large projects (over 20,000 individual activities) with the associated resource requirements and logical dependencies. Artemis CostView was full earned value management system and was compliant with government and industry EVM standards. CostView integrated with ProjectView to provide full cost and schedule integration. Artemis TrackView was an integrated time reporting system used to record, approve and report time charged against projects.
The last version of Artemis Views was Version 8.
Artemis 7
Artemis 7 is the newest addition to the Artemis's product line. Artemis 7 is an investment planning and control Web application. Designed to support senior and mid-level management financial investment and planning activities. Artemis 7 contains several major components -- Investment Portfolio Management, Demand and Initiative Management, Financial Planning and Budgeting, and Program and Project Management, Resource Management, Work Management and Dashboards and Analytics.The current version of Artemis 7 is Version 7.
While Artemis has provided project planning and management tools used by Global 500 companies since 1978, during the 1990s it encountered financial problems similar to many other high technology firms in the post dot.com bubble era.
In their 2006 Form 10-K filing http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1099674/000110465906021408/a06-2052_110k.htm Artemis International Solutions Corporation made the following comments:
"As disclosed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has incurred substantial recurring losses from operations and may incur losses in the future. These and other factors as described in Note 1 raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern without financial restructuring, absent an improvement in the Company’s operating performance."
Further on in the Form 10-K filing Artemis made the additional comments:
"We have experienced net losses in each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2005. At December 31, 2005, we reported an accumulated deficit of approximately $96.7 million and our current liabilities exceeded current assets by approximately $5.6 million."
In July 2006, Artemis was purchased by Versata
Versata
Versata is a business-rules based application development environment running in Java EE. It is a subsidiary of Trilogy, Inc.-History:Versata started in the early 1990s as a software consulting company called Vision Software. Over time it developed and sold software for Microsoft Visual Basic...
. In order to improve the financial standing of the company, Versata/Artemis pursued major worldwide organizational changes. The most notable changes were the consolidation of Artemis's product development in India and the reduction in Artemis' employee base worldwide to the extent that the majority of employees were made redundant in Europe and in the United States.
Artemis's Redundancy Policy backfires
Under Versata ownership, Artemis pursued an aggressive redundancy policy towards its employees. Most of the former employee base were sacked on a legally dubious basis, culminating in the case of Harlow V Artemis International Corporation, in which the UK High Court ruled that an enhanced redundancy payment was an express term of an employee's employment terms, and not merely discretionary, as claimed by Artemis. http://google.com/search?q=cache:haESlWpxnqQJ:www.eef.org.uk/UK/whatwedo/hrlegal/briefings/legal/Case%2Blaw%2Bupdates/1/Case_law_update_why_an_enhanced_redundancy_payment_in_a_redundancy_policy_is_not_discretionary.htm+Artemis+redundant&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ukExternal links
- Artemis Home Page
- http://www.deggroup.nl/ DEGSolutions Master Distributor for Artemis Software in the Netherlands.