First Consulting Group announced the addition of new functionality and modules to its FirstDoc ECM product suite. These new features are part of FCG’s efforts to ensure its clients are more able to respond to regulatory and policy shifts such as Sarbanes-Oxley, the FDA’s Structured Product Labeling (SPL), and the EMEA’s Exchange of Product Information (PIM). FirstDoc Enterprise is designed to prepare life sciences firms for compliance while helping to synchronize business processes, improve business agility, and create a more responsive IT infrastructure. FCG enables companies to extend existing compliance functions, such as document audit trails, typically used for GMP and 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, to other areas of their business. New FirstDoc functionality included in FirstDoc Enterprise, version 3.3 include the ability to create and manage XML components and documents, the ability to perform dynamic XML content assembly and publishing, an electronic records management feature that includes automatic calculation of retention dates as well as automatic purging of documents that have expired and that have been confirmed for deletion, the ability to route multiple documents and/or virtual documents in one workflow operation for review and approval, and the availability of product dictionaries and aliases to all solutions based on FirstDoc Enterprise. www.fcg.com

Navisware announced FileLine, its design documentation security product, will support the Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server for providing rights management capabilities to a variety of enterprise applications. The combination of FileLine and Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server expands DRM capabilities to include a wide variety of document types critical to the engineering design process, including AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and Microsoft Word documents. Now, FileLine customers can use LiveCycle Policy Server to apply usage policies to engineering documents for controlling how, when, and by whom the documents can be used. LiveCycle Policy Server lets the document owner update the file with new policies as often as desired without having to redistribute the document or file. Additionally, the document owner can easily view an activity log of how often the recipient has attempted to perform controlled actions (e.g. Save, Print, Cut/Copy/Paste, etc.). This same rights management technology ensures that version control of documents is maintained when the owner invokes immediate or date-based expiration, preventing contractors from making costly mistakes based on outdated documents or intellectual property falling into the wrong hands. Content developers can now share design information in the manner and for the time that they intended. www.navisware.com

EDS announced the launch of an e-mail archive service that eases compliancy woes by managing corporate e-mail assets. EDS will sell the service to new and existing clients challenged by more than 15,000 global regulations, including SEC 17a-4, HIPAA, Sarbanes- Oxley and Basel II. EDS’ managed service is based on EMC Centera; a content addressed storage (CAS) solution that provides simple, scalable, secure access to fixed content. The managed archival service is offered as an extension to EDS Managed Storage Services, or as a complement to EDS Workplace Services and EDS Enterprise Content Management services. This service will also address organizations that are self-imposing new internal standards and procedures to contain costs and improve efficiency. Retention and disposition of electronic records, such as e-mail, is increasingly more complex and corporate control over e-mail is critical to efficient operations. EDS e-mail archiving is offered as a per-mailbox per-month subscription service that includes application-aware policies supporting Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino/Notes messaging platforms. www.eds.com

Dialog announced that DialogLink 5 is now available for free downloading. The new DialogLink 5 software package, designed to help enhance the role of information professionals in their organizations, has a new interface and tools to streamline the process of finding, retrieving and distributing information found through the Dialog online service. DialogLink 5 features report-building tools and linking capabilities that provide a faster and more efficient means of integrating retrieved information into management reports, company publications and internal information-sharing systems, such as company intranets and portals. The software also includes Electronic Redistribution and Archiving (ERA), a service that guarantees copyright clearance for copying, storing and distributing documents retrieved from Dialog. The new integrated report builder makes it easier to produce reports by providing a selection of pre-formatted Microsoft Excel and Word templates. Another feature of DialogLink 5 is its new built-in, automated research assistance. Users can instantly link to related information in other files, choose a display format based on search results, access relevant support materials with one click and ask questions of the Dialog support team directly. DialogLink provides further assistance by automatically analyzing a researcher’s initial search query and then recommending alternate sources and search strategies to be pursued for more in-depth research results. www.dialog.com, www.thomson.com

ACG and 55 Minutes have joined forces to deliver business solutions for the enterprise including Digital Asset Management, Workflow Automation, and Distribution Portals. Specializing in the organization, retrieval, and distribution of rich media content, the goal of the partnership is to work jointly on Rich Media Management projects providing clients all the services and support that are needed to build cost effective rich media management systems. The combined teams have experience with various DAM and rich media products and are providing an unbiased and broad array of services like business analysis, vendor selection, project and change management as well as application integration and web development for unique non out-of-the-box requirements. , http://55minutes.com

The Content Management Professionals organization (CM Pros) is looking for an Executive Director. The role of the Executive Director is key to the success of Content Management Professionals. This position has been held by Bob Doyle, who has put a tremendous amount of work into the organization. He will be stepping down from this role to participate in CM Pros in other ways so we are looking for a new Executive Director. The position Executive Director is appointed by the Board of Directors and is largely a volunteer position, but an honorarium will be provided. It is expected to require 10-20 hours of work per week. The ideal candidate will be a proven leader and seasoned professional manager who will take overall responsibility for building and expanding the organization. For more information see the job description. Please provide your response to board@cmprofessionals.org by March 18. http://www.cmprofessionals.org/, www.cmprofessionals.org/organization/roles/ExecutiveDirectorCMPros.pdf

Infotrieve, Inc. announced plans to launch its new web-based search and discovery research environment, the Life Science Research Center (LSRC), in March 2005. The LSRC simplifies scientists’ daily workflow by providing a user interface to search diverse types of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) information and to identify relationships across traditionally disparate sources of content. The LSRC will utilize full-text searching of pre-processed STM content such as literature, patents, drug pipeline data, genes, technical protocols, laboratory products, and industry news. In addition to full-text searching and the identification of relationships through entity extraction and concept clustering, the Life Science Research Center features secure meta searching of external and internal corporate data sources, personalization for individuals and collaborative workgroups, and other search capabilities. Infotrieve is currently integrating the Infotrieve Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) with the LSRC, as well as literature retrieval, and laboratory product purchasing. www.infotrieve.com