Leading Universities Around the World Choose AtTask to Teach Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Best Practices

Global Presence, Award-Winning PPM Functionality, and Multilingual Capability Make AtTask the Perfect Solution for Project Management Curriculum Across the Globe

OREM, Utah—September 28, 2009—AtTask, (www.attask.com), the definitive solution enabling organizations to collaborate and accomplish the work most essential to the enterprise, is also part of successful real-world project management education around the world.  Leading colleges and universities, including The People’s University of China, the Department of Business Administration at Augsburg College, and the MBA Field Studies Program at Brigham Young University (BYU), are taking advantage of AtTask’s presence in the global marketplace, on-demand delivery model, and multilingual capability to teach project management best practices to undergraduate and graduate students.

The People’s University of China recently introduced a project management curriculum that features AtTask’s PPM solution and is successfully attracting C-level executives to attend the course.  Founded in 1950, the University’s School of Business has a reputation for providing superior industry business management education in China.

Kathy Schwalbe, Ph.D., from Augsburg College, one of BusinessWeek’s top 25 colleges, added a detailed appendix addressing online project management and AtTask to the third edition of her book, An Introduction to Project Management.  The book offers a comprehensive introduction to project management and is the core of her curriculum. 

“This book provides up-to-date information on how good project, program, and portfolio management can help you achieve organizational success,” said Schwalbe.  “Included in the appendix is a summary of the powerful capabilities offered by AtTask, the number one online project management solution.  It also includes step-by-step instructions on creating projects in AtTask, importing MS Project files, and portfolio management features.” (You can purchase Schwalbe’s book at Amazon.com.)

MBA students at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School, one of BusinessWeek’s top 25 business schools, rely on AtTask project and portfolio management solution to manage corporate field studies programs and foster collaboration with Fortune 500 clients and student project teams.

“The field studies program is a great opportunity for our MBA students to get real-world experience working with some of the most successful organizations in the country,” says Roger McCarty, director of the Marriott School’s field studies program. “Giving students access to a PPM solution like AtTask allows them to use the same solutions for managing and executing projects they will be using once they leave BYU.”

AtTask provides a suite of portfolio management tools that help organizations focus on the objectives that make their organizations more effective, innovative, and competitive:

• Business Case Assessment--AtTask helps mitigate risks and reduce costs by ensuring optimal alignment of current and potential projects with strategic and financial goals.
• Demand Management--Organizations can make better investment decisions by performing first-pass evaluations of a potential project’s costs, risks, estimated value and alignment to business goals.
• Portfolio Optimization--Identifying the right mix of projects through comparative metrics-based ranking that considers the risk tolerance, and the importance of return, cost, and corporate alignment helps managers stay focused on those initiatives that provide the greatest business value.
• Best-Fit Capacity Planning--AtTask helps optimize resource utilization by scheduling resources based on best-fit capacity planning across prioritized projects.
• Portfolio Scorecards--Organizations use AtTask to create a more effective business case for evaluation of potential projects by allowing users to build their own alignment surveys through the use of a customizable scorecard.

AtTask is helping students learn how organizations can increase productivity and reduce costs by providing transparency, visibility, and accountability on critical business projects across the enterprise.   AtTask’s on-demand alternative to expensive and cumbersome legacy solutions:

• Promotes better workforce utilization and increases efficiency
• Empowers organizations to focus on profit margins and cutting costs
• Provides enterprise-wide project visibility
• Enables greater regulatory compliance
• Facilitates business agility and innovation
• Provides heightened budget accountability

“We are pleased to see AtTask used by colleges and universities around the world to teach project management processes and best practices,” said Kevin Hayden, Chief Marketing Officer for AtTask.  “This kind of practical experience with the same solutions used by industry will prove to be invaluable to the future careers of these students.  AtTask is proud to contribute to the education of future project managers and business leaders.”
If you are an educator at a college or university that is interested in adding AtTask to your project management curriculum, click HERE.

Recent AtTask Highlights

• AtTask named an industry leader in SaaS/on-demand IT project management software by IDC1
• AtTask recognized as the market share leader in Gartner’s Market Share: Project and Portfolio Management Software, Worldwide 2008 Report2 with 90.0 percent share growth, outpacing the market by 12x
• AtTask named a visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management3
• AtTask named “Best Project Management Software” with a 2009 CODiE award
• AtTask received the TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award for the third year in a row
• AtTask momentum continues through Q2 with increased revenue growth, strong customer acquisition, and project management software innovation
• Companies like Driscoll’s, Johns Hopkins, National Geographic, Penn State, Simmons Foods, Verizon Wireless, and others choose AtTask’s project management software to align business goals with project execution
• Global successes in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) exceeded all projections in Q2
• The Project & Portfolio Management Summit, held in June, brought together senior IT executives from the PPM business community who awarded AtTask a “Project & Portfolio Management Innovation Award” for “Best Presentation”
• Organizations from all over the world enjoyed an exciting program of industry analyst presentations and customer success stories during AtTask’s first ever User Conference held in May

1IDC MarketScape: IT Project and Portfolio Management, 2009 Vendor Analysis (IDC #219087)
2Gartner, Inc. “Market Share: Project and Portfolio Management Software, Worldwide, 2008” by Laurie F. Wurster et al, May 20, 2009
3Gartner, Inc. “Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management” by Daniel B. Stang and Michael Hanford, June 2, 2009

About AtTask, Inc.

AtTask (http://www.attask.com) is the project and portfolio management (PPM) solution that focuses all knowledge workers on those activities that make them and their company more effective, innovative, and competitive.  Its platform-independent and multilingual solution increases efficiency for small- to medium-sized businesses and Fortune 500 companies across the globe. AtTask's clients include American Airlines, Chevron, Cisco Systems, GE Healthcare, Google, HBO, Johnson & Johnson, Newsweek, Samsung, Toyota, Walt Disney, and Whirlpool.