Scalability

CA Clarity supports large customer installations (greater than 10,000 users) on a single system

Although you may not need to deploy our application to this many users, you will appreciate knowing that you can do so if and when the time comes.  Applications proven to work with large deployments have the stability, performance and scalability necessary for any size installation.

Extensibility and Configurability

CA Clarity is completely extensible, allowing organizations to customize business objects, add new business objects, and associate custom business objects with tasks and resources

Nobody wants to customize software, so you need a solution that is easily configured and fully extensible.  This allows you to tailor the application to your business processes rather than adapt the way you work to the software.

The extensibility does not compromise the path to future upgrades

The key to maintaining software upgradeability is avoiding customization. To do so, you need substantial flexibility in extending and configuring the application to work the way you do.

In CA Clarity, the application's menus, page titles, color scheme and navigation tabs can be easily configured to use your terminology and branding

Software configured to use your company's look and feel is adopted faster, requires less training and is easier to support.  Why have your hundreds or thousands of users learn "Create Opportunity" when your terminology "Submit a New Idea" is second nature?

Architecture and Performance

CA Clarity is delivered completely through a standard web browser without any client software installs or downloads of Java applets or ActiveX controls

Client-side software installs, downloads and plug-ins are an IT maintenance headache.  Addressing incompatible browsers and operating systems, mismatched Java virtual machine versions, slow WAN connections and user confusion for a geographically-dispersed organization, consumes incredible amounts of valuable IT resources, slows roll-outs and user adoption, and costs money.

CA Clarity uses minimal bandwidth by compressing HTML content between the server and the browser

With hundreds or thousands of users accessing the application, many from remote locations over slower connections, network bandwidth becomes an issue. CA Clarity compresses all HTML content between the server and browser with gzip, using on average seven times less network bandwidth than uncompressed HTML.

CA Clarity supports multi-server horizontal scaling and load balancing, with the ability to add nodes without taking the system down

Replicating some services, such as the application server, onto multiple servers within a cluster provides nearly unlimited scalability to the application, as well as providing fault tolerance should any one particular machine malfunction.

CA Clarity deployment can be configured so that any problem is mitigated by fail-over to a backup service, eliminating any single point of failure

If your global staff works around the clock, there's no time for down time, whether intentional or not. You need a solution that can be deployed with fail-over support for all services.

Global Applicability

CA Clarity supports transactions in multiple currencies with roll-up to a common reporting currency

Global companies operate locally, and the application must support cost, benefit, expense, rate, billing, invoicing and charge-backs in local currencies.  For reporting purposes, however, you want a consolidated view that rolls-up local transactions to your reporting currency.

CA Clarity is multi-lingual, supporting each user in their selected language from one installation of the software

Users are most effective when working in their local language, and for a global company there can be many. You want an application that installs once but provides local language choice to every individual user.

Integration

CA Clarity is easily integrated with other enterprise systems using XML interfaces

If you need to integrate your application with other enterprise systems for accounting, billing, budgeting and personnel information, then you want to do it with industry-standard, published XML interfaces.

Security

CA Clarity can be deployed so that all communication from server to browser is via an SSL encrypted connection, including remote users and those using desktop scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project

In today's environment, rigorous security precautions are required to protect your sensitive project, product, financial and personnel information.  You need an application that supports SSL encryption of all network communication between server and client browser and between server and client application (including Microsoft Project).

CA Clarity combines role-based and organization-based security in a seamless model

Roles define the rights a user has to perform actions.  The OBS defines what the user can see and act upon.  The combination of these two security models provides incredible flexibility with minimal administration and complexity--the best of both worlds.

CA Clarity provides a complete audit trail of all project cost accounting transactions

When deploying an enterprise solution that impacts your financial systems and reporting, you need a complete audit trail of those transactions.  This is especially true when using the application to track capitalization of project costs for SOP 98-1 reporting.

Support

CA provides support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Companies do business around the globe and around the clock and need support available whenever users are at work.

CA provides Clarity service and support in four countries and in six languages

When implementing an enterprise solution, you need sales, professional services and support staff that understand local requirements and customs and are nearby to build a strong relationship.

CA promotes and facilitates an enterprise customer advisory council that provides feedback and vision

A customer advisory council comprised of Global 2000 customer representatives provides direct and valuable feedback on the CA Clarity product.

• CA Clarity PPM Functional Overview Brochure
• CA Clarity PPM for IT Governance Solution Brief
• CA Clarity PPM for ITG Governance: Why Now?
• Project and Portfolio Management Solution Brief

• Free PPM Seminars and Workshops
• Managing Your IT Portfolio with Forrester Analyst Craig Symons
• PPM Research Findings with Forrester Senior Analyst Lewis Cardin
• Innovation Insight from Stage-Gate Guru Dr. Robert Cooper