Major Indiana Utility Selects Plateau Systems to Manage Learning

Plateau 4 LMS to manage Web-based and classroom learning and ensure regulatory compliance for Indiana's largest natural gas distribution company

ARLINGTON, VA September 23, 2003 Plateau Systems, the leading provider of enterprise learning management systems, announced today that Northern Indiana Public Service Company, a NiSource company, has selected the Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) to implement a new e-Learning initiative and to manage its training records. NIPSCO is the largest gas distribution company and the second largest electric distribution company in the state.

NIPSCO is using Plateau 4 LMS to consolidate all of its online and classroom learning on one scalable, Web-based platform. Plateau 4 LMS allows NIPSCO to automate the processes needed to continually train and manage certifications for its employees and contractors at 25 locations. Like most energy companies, NIPSCO faces a stringent set of Operator Qualification (OQ) guidelines mandated by the Department of Transportation, as well as a wide range of regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Plateau 4 LMS has proven itself as a learning management system for highly regulated companies, and is powering corporate learning for more than a dozen of the largest energy companies in the United States.

Under the DOT's Operator Qualification guidelines, energy transmission and utility companies have to document that employees who work on pipelines are fully qualified to perform specific tasks. These covered tasks are laid out in more than 700 pages of DOT's new Operator Qualifications guidelines. They create a considerable and ongoing training challenge for companies with employees dispersed across multiple locations.

Plateau 4 LMS is uniquely suited to meet these requirements. Plateau 4 has a Qualification Management schema that automatically assigns tasks, requirements and deadlines to thousands of individual employees based on their job position. These qualifications can be grouped to meet any job-related or peripheral procedure an employee or contractor needs to know, from the operation of a specific valve to the mandated response to spills and emergencies. Plateau 4 LMS automatically alerts affected workers by email when new training is due or procedures change. The LMS also provides a time-stamped audit trail for every training event to give regulators a comprehensive view of the training.

About Plateau: Plateau's enterprise-class software manages all of an organization's learning and knowledge on one scalable platform. Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is built on Web-based J2EE/EJB architecture, and is the engine behind the largest e-Learning initiatives in the corporate, non-profit and government markets. Plateau 4 LMS automates the management and delivery of online and classroom learning, organizational knowledge and competencies for clients including the American Red Cross, Motorola, Union Pacific and the U.S. Air Force. Plateau is listed as a leader in LMS evaluations from Gartner Inc. and META Group. The company is headquartered in Arlington, VA. For more information, please visit www.plateau.com.

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