Exact Software this week announced an upgrade of its Exact Event Manager software, expanding users’ ability to monitor their business activities and react quickly to exceptions.

In Exact Event Manager version 7.5, the company has added a graphical user interface and support for the Microsoft SQL Server database platform, increasing scalability, speed, and flexibility. The new version works with Windows Vista and Business Object’s Crystal Reports 11. In addition, an Event Design Module and Navigator makes it easier for users to visually interact with event administration and monitoring, event creation, and event subscriber management, according to Gary Chervitz, principal of product marketing for Exact Americas. Also new is the ability to create job streams — that is, to specify events and automate them in a pre-determined order.

The new release is said to help businesses monitor enterprise data for changes and alert staff, business partners, and customers so that they can respond quickly. In addition, the product scans the business for what Exact refers to as “non-changes,” such as inaction by regular customers or business partners.

“We like to think of this as an invisible employee coordinating workflows,” Chervitz said in an interview with Manufacturing Executive. Companies these days need to “do more with less,” he said, noting that U.S. unemployment rates recently hit a five-year high. “Organizations are strained and stressed, and that hinders clear thinking,” he said. The software ensures that tasks are being performed, and in the right order.

For example, he said, if a sales lead comes into a company via e-mail, the workflow might specify four successive events: a contact record is created in the CRM system, the contact information is transmitted to a sales rep, an acknowledgment goes out to the lead, and, last, an alert goes to the sales manager.

The software can tie into MI, MES, and ERP systems to deliver a higher level of business intelligence, the company said. Manufacturers might use Exact 7.5, Chervitz said, to stay compliant with ISO requirements, notifying customers of variations in quantities shipped and getting sign-offs, or to monitor scrap levels or measure production cycles versus estimates.

Rather than simply sending e-mail alerts, the software can create and deliver forms or PDFs, send product brochures and order confirmations to Web portals, schedule follow-up activities, create customized responses to changes, and update information in the company’s databases. The new graphical elements provide system administrators a single view of the events being monitored instead of requiring them to open three different screens within Event Manager, Chervitz said. The graphical Event Design Module and Navigator, Job Streams, and Advanced Calculation Wizard provide the ability to define new event triggers, responses, and alerts without requiring programming or SQL expertise, the company said.

“Exact Event Manager 7.5 helps you identify and respond to business activities that can escalate into unmanageable problems,” said Harry Merkin, VP of marketing for Exact Software Americas, in the statement announcing the product.

Existing customers are entitled to a free upgrade. For new customers, Exact has priced the product according to the number of databases a customer needs to connect to. For large companies, Exact offers an unlimited option, according to Chervitz.