THE MDC FIRST IPMASTER APPLICATION SUPPORT WORKSHOP A GREAT SUCCESS

 

Philadelphia, PA USA-London UK-Southfield, MI USA - 02/08/2005 — Today, the Thomson Scientific market group of Thomson, announced that MDC, also known as Master Data Center (www.mdcip.com), successfully completed its first biannual IPMaster Application Support Workshop. MDC is the industry’s leading provider of IP management software and patent annuity and trademark renewal payment services. IPMaster is the MDC flagship software product for managing intellectual property.

“During our recent client conferences and user meetings, many customers had requested in-depth, technical training on IPMaster and the ability to share best practices between firms”, said Alex Butler, vice president of sales & marketing, MDC. “We want to ensure that our customers get the training they need in order to use our IPMaster software more efficiently and effectively. It is a credit to MDC colleagues and staff that they were able to work with clients to organize and deliver this unique event in less than 60 days,” continued Butler.

Thirty-nine participants from twenty-six domestic and global companies and law firms congregated in St. Pete Beach, Florida, January 30 – February 1, for two days of in-depth presentations and training sessions on IPMaster. Led by Phil Henderson, CIO and vice president, MDC, the sessions provided attendees with detailed insight into the software’s technical components and requirements and showed how to utilize and modify IPMaster according to individual clients’ needs.

“I certainly recommend the MDC IPMaster Application Support Workshop to anyone who administers IPMaster”, said John Shea, database analyst at Hogan & Hartson, LLP in Washington DC. “The informal learning environment and availability of resources better prepared me for our firm's implementations and provided me with ideas for optimizing our IPMaster systems. As a result, I'm definitely interested in attending future workshops.”

During the first day, Phil Henderson presented a comprehensive overview of IPMaster components and features. Presentations by Rajitha Boer, payment systems project manager, MDC and Greg LaBelle, software developer at MDC, discussed database components in more detail, including key tables, record selection, rules, profile fields, modules, and procedures. In addition Kurt Highducheck, product development manager, MDC, discussed features available via IPMaster objects and how they can be effectively integrated and customized. Security issues, such as access limitations, read-only systems, and data protections were also addressed.

On the second day, attendees had the opportunity to participate in “hands-on” training, led by the MDC IT and development staff, while completing exercises on their laptops. The two training sessions were divided into two main topics: browse maintenance and interface maintenance. The exercises educated clients on how to create and modify browses, how to customize browses for specific users, and how to export data.

Aside from the presentations and training sessions, the event provided ample opportunity for clients to network with colleagues and peers facing similar business challenges. Participants shared their IPMaster experience and discussed individual customization features, which ultimately enriched the knowledge of all attendees.

“Given we have just purchased the software, it was especially interesting to hear from other customers with regard to the customizations and integrations they carried out. I am quite sure with MDC’s help, our installation will also integrate neatly into our ongoing KM system implementation and this time next year we can stand up and announce what we have done with it”, said David Anderson, IT systems manager, ITI Scotland.

MDC also gathered feedback from customers on current IPMaster features and suggestions on how to improve the software. These suggestions will be taken into consideration when finalizing the upcoming software upgrade for IPMaster 2.0, which is currently under development.

An IPMaster Application Support Workshop for database administrators is planned for October 16 – 18, 2005, in the Napa Valley region of California. For more information on IPMaster or future workshops, please contact info@mdcip.com or call +1.248.936.3737.


Thomson Reuters (www.thomsonreuters.com), with 2005 revenues of approximately $8.5 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 40,500 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

Scientific is a business of Thomson Reuters. Its information solutions assist professionals at every stage of research and development—from discovery to analysis to product development and distribution. Thomson scientific information solutions can be found at www.scientific.thomson.com.