June 9, 1997

MetaQuest announces Census 2.0, a Defect Tracking System for Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT Census delivers the most powerful customization capabilities of any Defect Tracking System MONTREAL, Canada, June 9, 1997 -- Census Day! - MetaQuest Software Inc., announces Census 2.0, a defect tracking system for Windows 95 and Windows NT. "Census offers unparalleled ease-of-use in a package that includes an extremely rich set of features," said Ralph Akhras, president of MetaQuest Software. "Additionally, Census is the only defect tracking system to offer truly powerful customization capabilities. Census allows users to add needed features today! Users don't have to wait for the next release for a feature that may never arrive. Census is developed using Microsoft Access 2.0. What this means for users is that they can use all the professional development tools that are part of Microsoft Access to quickly and easily build on the Census foundation. Our open architecture and Microsoft Access offer an unbeatable combination of flexibility and strength." Key Features Ease-of-Use - Census includes an intuitive user interface, an online tutorial, a user guide that includes helpful tips on defect tracking, and online help. Predefined styles (queries, sorts, layouts, and reports) and a comprehensive list of fields tailored for defect tracking reduce setup time - users can start using Census in minutes! Administrators can define which features users have access to - users only see the features they need. As their responsibilities and familiarity with Census increase, users can be given access to additional features. Entering defects is easy - defect-related fields are automatically filled based on values in the profile. Users can also create a new defect by duplicating an existing defect - a valuable time saving feature when defects have many common values. Textual and Graphical Reports - Want to know the defect arrival rate, the fix rate, how many defects are still open, who has submitted the most defects? Use predefined reports or create new reports to track the statistics needed for an improved quality assurance process. Ad-hoc Queries - Want to display all defects containing the word "crash" in the description field or all defects submitted today? The Census main window includes a Simple Query Editor that allows users to quickly locate the defects they're searching for. Specialized Editors - Census includes easy-to-use editors for creating new styles (queries, sorts, layouts, and reports). Common styles can be shared between team members. Revision History - Changes to any defect-related field are logged. The revision history tells you who changed it, when it was changed, and optionally why it was changed. Email Notification - Census notifies team members automatically when an important change occurs to the defect database. For example, team members can receive email notifications when defects are assigned to them, when the priority of a defect is increased, or when the number of open defects exceeds a certain threshold. Out-of-the-Box Customizations - Organization-specific customizations such as setting choice values, renaming defect-related fields, adding new defect-related fields, and more, are quickly performed using the Census Template Editor. Import - The import function makes it easy to copy existing defect databases into Census. Open Architecture and Power Customizations MetaQuest Software supports a philosophy of openness for its products. Census' open architecture delivers on this belief. Power Customizations allow users to modify, enhance, and extend Census beyond what is capable with any other defect tracking system. Users can: perform elaborate modifications to the Defect Record (defect-related fields) add pop-up editors to defect-related fields to facilitate data entry add calculated fields define dependencies between defect-related fields add custom editors to the menu bar integrate with third party applications (configuration management tools, test tools, call support applications, etc.) and much more. Power Customizations are accomplished using Microsoft Access' powerful Basic language, visual screen designer, property sheets, and more. The Beyond The Basics guide ties these 3 elements (Census' open architecture + Power Customization features + Microsoft Access) together. Pricing and Availability Census 2.0 is available directly from MetaQuest Software. It carries a suggested retail price of US$250 per concurrent use license. Until September 1, 1997, Census is available at the promotional price of US$160 per concurrent use license. This promotional price also includes a free upgrade to the next Census release which is based on Access 95. Quantity discounts are available on orders of five or more. A 60 day evaluation version can be downloaded from MetaQuest Software's Web site at http://www.metaquest.com. Census uses the Microsoft Access runtime executable, so users do not need to purchase a Microsoft Access license to run Census. Power Customization functionality requires a Microsoft Access license. Founded in 1996, MetaQuest Software Inc., provides solutions for software development and technical support. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and Access are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. For More Information Contact: MetaQuest Software Inc. 416 de Maisonneuve West, Suite 401, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1L2 Tel: 514-341-9113 FAX: 514-341-4757 Internet: info@metaquest.com

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Last modified: November, 1999