MAXIMO 5 Future Ready Technology, Today

MRO Software, Inc.

100 Crosby Drive
Bedford, MA 01730

Phone: 800.244.3346
Fax: 770.481.3071

www.mro.com

April 2003
Contents
1 ..........Introduction

2 ..........Overview

2–3.......Deploying Applications on the Internet

4–5.......J2EE Component-Based Architecture

5–6.......Zero Legacy Code

6 ..........Accessible Anywhere

6–7.......Infrastructure Security

7–8.......Standards-Based Interoperability

9 ..........Conclusion

MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 MAXIMO 5 – Future Ready Technology, Today
Introduction
When evaluating a software solution, it is not enough to base a purchase decision solely on how well
an application meets your current business requirements. Your decision should be strongly influenced
by how well a solution’s architecture aligns with your company’s overall IT strategy. Forward-looking
companies know that their competitive edge depends largely on their ability to take advantage of
current and future technological advances. Maintaining competitive advantage requires operational
systems that work together with mission-critical business systems to deliver a complete view of the
enterprise. Such interoperability and openness can only be delivered by applications that are built upon
a standards-based Internet architecture.

MAXIMO 5 is built with a proven, standards-based architecture. MRO Software invested the time
required to evolve MAXIMO, its flagship strategic asset management solution, from a client/server
architecture to a fully Internet-based architecture. MAXIMO 5 is designed to use the latest Internet
technologies available today, and its architecture will inherently support new standards-based
technologies as they emerge in the future. Built on future-ready technology, MAXIMO 5 is a proven
solution that is available today.

1— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 MAXIMO 5 – Future Ready Technology, Today
Overview – Architected for the Internet
Designed with a J2EE component-based architecture, MAXIMO 5 is the only technologically advanced
strategic asset management software in the marketplace. This architecture leverages the latest
Internet standards available today, and provides a framework that will inherently support those of the
future. MAXIMO 5 can be deployed on a single machine for small to mid-sized companies, yet its
scalability and performance meet the demands of global, distributed enterprises with multiple
organizations and sites, that operate using multiple languages and currencies.

MAXIMO 5 – Internet Architecture

Deploying Applications on the Internet

Leading organizations realize that to retain a competitive edge, they must adopt and adhere to a long-
term IT strategy based upon business applications that are built on Internet standards and deployed
via commercially available application servers. Such a strategy provides interoperability and vendor
independence by leveraging industry standards such as Java2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). J2EE defines
the standard for developing multi-tier enterprise applications. It simplifies enterprise applications by
basing them on standardized, modular components, by providing a complete set of services to those
components, and by handling many details of application behavior automatically. Applications built on
the J2EE platform achieve a lower cost of deployment and maintenance, and benefit from centralized
administration and security.

2— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 Deploying Applications on the Internet (continued)

As companies deploy applications over internal Intranets or externally over the Internet, the growing
complexity of the applications demands an environment for managing them. Globally deployed
applications with complex business logic, servicing high volumes of concurrent users, require the
scalability and reliability that make a commercially available application server a necessity. MAXIMO
5 takes full advantage of the world-class reliability, availability, and scalability services that these
commercial application servers provide.

MAXIMO 5 is deployed using a commercially available J2EE-compliant application server — IBM

WebSphere or BEA WebLogic. These standards-based application servers provide the underlying
infrastructure and services required for deploying Internet applications including:

■ Security ■ Load balancing

■ Fault tolerance ■ Scalability

■ Advanced application monitoring ■ Multi-threading

■ Transaction management ■ Resource pooling

■ Persistence ■ Web services

■ Database connectivity ■ Integration framework

■ Portals

The use of commercially available application servers allows MRO Software to focus development
efforts on building world-class strategic asset management solutions rather than developing the
infrastructure and services that are provided by the application server.

The benefits of deploying applications via application servers include:

■ Reducing the number of technologies that the IT organization needs to support and manage

■ Decreasing the costs of maintenance and deployment

■ Extending the life of existing technology investments, because it allows integration to legacy
technology with a modern foundation

■ Lowering Total Cost of Ownership — lower hardware costs, lower integration costs, lower
support costs, lower training costs, and lower operating costs

Deploying MAXIMO 5 on a J2EE-compliant application server platform provides customers with a

solution that protects their investment today, and provides unlimited growth into the future.

3— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 J2EE Component-Based Architecture
The fundamental structure of a J2EE component-based architecture is the use of components and
objects in the construction of applications. The roles of each of these are subtle yet very important in
achieving transparency in business practices, application development, and technology shifts.

Generally, components are comprised of one or more objects, and applications in turn are made of
components. A component addresses an underlying business issue or function such as a Work Order
or Purchase Order. Components typically function at the business level by providing business services
to various applications, while objects are entities within these business functions such as Equipment,
Item, or Employee that provide a focused set of services.

Example of a Component-Based Application Model

MAXIMO 5 has a component-based application design that enables reuse within the application, as
well as integration with external applications. MAXIMO 5 business processes are encapsulated into
distinct, reusable components such as Work Orders, Purchase Orders, and Inventory.

MAXIMO 5 — J2EE Component-Based Application Model

4— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 J2EE Component-Based Architecture (continued)

Another fundamental requirement of J2EE is a multi-tiered application model in which the

presentation, business logic, and database access layers are separate. MAXIMO 5 has such a multi-
tiered application design. Keeping each tier separate limits the extent to which any individual
component is impacted by change or replacement of another component, or by its use in a new
context. This makes tailoring or extending MAXIMO 5 functionality relatively easy to do, and limits the
impact of change to the individual components that are being modified.

MAXIMO 5 — Multi-Tier Application Design

MAXIMO 5 business components are fully documented through public application programming
interfaces (APIs). These APIs make integrating MAXIMO 5 with existing applications easier, and also
makes MAXIMO extremely extensible. The APIs protect a customer’s investment in customization or
integration because they isolate any business logic, security, or database schema changes MRO
Software makes in MAXIMO 5 from the customer’s implementation. As long as the APIs are used to
access MAXIMO 5 business components, customizations and integrations will continue to work from
one product release to another, providing complete upgrade protection.

Applications that do not have a component based architecture are inherently difficult to maintain and do
not promote reuse. In such cases, presentation, business logic, and data access are inextricably mingled
making it very difficult to make modifications without requiring a lot of custom code to be written.

Zero Legacy Code

A number of software vendors have taken “short-cuts” to the Internet by emulating their application
on the Internet, or by adding “wrapper” code to their existing legacy code. Although these shortcuts
will “web-enable” their applications, the overhead and inefficiencies of doing so can be detrimental
to their customers. Customers may have to invest in unnecessary infrastructure such as additional
hardware to handle the emulation software or wrapper overhead, outdated legacy compilers, or

5— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 Zero Legacy Code (continued)

additional security measures to compensate for them. In addition, the hidden cost of obtaining
skilled IT staff to support and administer legacy or proprietary applications can be overwhelming.

There is ZERO legacy code in MAXIMO 5 business components. All MAXIMO 5 business components
are developed in pure Java. MAXIMO 5 utilizes HTML and JavaScript for displaying information, and
XML for collaboration with other business systems. These are the most prevalent and widely
accepted Internet standards and technologies available today.

Accessible Anywhere
The Internet has changed the way we access information and conduct business. Today, end-users
want to access information from wherever they are, whenever they need to. Unlike traditional users
who were tethered to individual workstations, today’s users have access to a variety of Internet
enabled devices and want to use the most appropriate device to get their jobs done.

MAXIMO 5 delivers pure Java Server web pages to clients. This architecture eliminates the need
to install, configure, and maintain client-side software for any user applications. MAXIMO 5 user
applications run on any supported Internet device including mobile devices, portals, WAP phones, etc.
This eliminates the deployment, versioning and software conflicts that commonly occur on client
devices running legacy client/server and web-enabled applications. Deploying MAXIMO 5 has minimal
network impact due to its Internet optimized architecture — allowing enterprises to expand the reach
of MAXIMO 5. Now anyone requiring access to MAXIMO 5 data — employees, contractors, or partners
can do so from anywhere, without requiring specialized client hardware or software.

Infrastructure Security
Doing business over the Internet requires providing customers, partners, and employees with access
to information in a way that is controlled and secure. Clearly, putting business systems on the Internet
offers opportunities for increasing efficiencies and reducing costs, however it also introduces risk.
Applications and data must be secured from users who may try to gain unauthorized access to critical
applications, sensitive data or network transmissions. Applications deployed over the Internet must
function efficiently without compromising corporate security and integrity. This requires a robust
security framework to manage Internet communications.

Fortunately, a number of agencies, standards bodies, and commercial entities are monitoring and
focusing on Internet security on an on-going basis. The results of these efforts are a number of robust
Internet security concepts and solutions such as firewalls, digital certificates, encryptions, directory
services, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and Public Key Infrastructures (PKI). Today most companies
have a combination of these industry standard security solutions deployed across their enterprise.
These solutions form the basis of an enterprise’s infrastructure security.

An application that is accessed by internal users on an Intranet, as well as by external users on the
Internet must be flexible enough to manage two sets of user access policies and security protocols;
for example, HTTP for Intranet access and HTTPS for Internet access. Protecting the content of the
application from unauthorized access or modification is essential regardless of how or where it is
being accessed.
6— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today
 Infrastructure Security (continued)

MAXIMO 5 is built using the J2EE platform, thus it inherits the universal security features that the
platform provides, such as HTTP authentication for services protected by firewalls, HTTPS for SSL
implementations, Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS), and support for 3rd party
services to authenticate and enforce access control. In addition, MAXIMO 5 provides multi-level
authentication including user-based, group-based and role-based access security features that are
important within every organization. MAXIMO 5 expands on these security features by incorporating
robust auditing capabilities that meet the FDA’s 21 CFR Part 11 regulation.

MAXIMO Security Features:

■ User authentication: sign-on

■ Role based access and operational security: user/group

■ Exception: workflow

■ Audit: user tracking, field level change tracking (21 CFR Part 11)

Standards-Based Interoperability
In today’s connected world, interoperability requires the integration of multiple business systems
internally within organizations, as well as externally with those of partners and customers. However,
without careful planning and a proper integration infrastructure, integration issues can quickly become
unmanageable and overwhelm corporate IT resources.

A number of approaches have been adopted to address integration. The simplest approach is
connecting one application directly to another, which is referred to as a point-to-point integration.
Relatively easy to accomplish, point-to-point integrations do not make sense if there are multiple
systems each having to integrate to other systems — and unfortunately this is the situation most
companies face. The resulting point-to-point integrations are difficult to maintain and virtually
impossible to upgrade. Any time there is a new release of one of the business systems involved, the
integrations to it have to be redone. This is not a viable solution.

Another integration approach is to move away from multiple business systems and implement a
‘suite’ solution. On the surface, a suite solution sounds promising. However, suites often lack the
functional depth required and are extremely inflexible to business change. Most often, suites require
additional functionality to meet current business requirements. In addition, they tend to be proprietary
and closed, making the customization required to configure, customize and administer very expensive
and hard to find.

The use of middleware is yet another approach to integration. This approach allows organizations to
obtain and use business systems that meet their needs and allows for planned or unplanned changes
in their business systems portfolio. Middleware does provide an infrastructure for integration but it
does not eliminate integration issues. Each middleware solution has a proprietary implementation
approach and requires significant effort to connect each of the business systems to it.

7— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 Standards-Based Interoperability (continued)

MRO Software has adopted a proven hub-and-spoke integration model. By integrating each
application (spoke) to a common hub (usually middleware), the complexity of a point-to-point
integration is avoided. Each application’s integration is limited to the hub and once integrated to the
hub, it can communicate with any other application on the hub supporting similar transactions.
Standards expand on this concept by elevating the model to a platform and implementation neutral
framework that is easily incorporated into an application.

Point-to-Point Integration vs. Standards-Based Integration Framework

Three of the driving standards that are making interoperability easier are extensible markup language
(XML), Open Applications Group (OAGi) and Web Services. MRO Software believes that these
standards will make interoperability between applications a lot easier, more streamlined and cost
effective. XML and OAGi are already native standards of the MAXIMO 5 interoperability framework.
Web Services components, mainly WSDL and SOAP have been rolled into the framework and will be
available by the time they gain momentum and adoption in the marketplace.

MAXIMO 5 Interoperability features:

■ Extensible, standards-based, interoperability framework that provides a complete integration

enablement environment

■ Library of pre-defined integration points

■ Development, configuration and deployment through visual and graphical elements of

the adapter

■ Built-in auditing, recovery, notification and management facilities

By extending its visibility into the enterprise, MAXIMO 5 further optimizes the strategic asset
maintenance process by having access to information from various business systems. Likewise,
these business systems are able to receive critical strategic asset maintenance information from
MAXIMO 5 for planning, scheduling and reporting functions.

8— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

 Conclusion
Leading companies understand the benefits of deploying applications that are built upon open,
Internet-based standards. When evaluating a software solution you need to select a system that
supports your current business requirements. However, it is not enough to base your decision solely
on how well it solves today’s business problems. You need to select a solution that will take
advantage of current and future technological advances. MAXIMO 5 is designed to use the latest
Internet technologies available today, and its standards-based architecture will inherently support
those that emerge in the future. Built on future-ready technology, MAXIMO 5 is a proven solution that
is available today.

9— MRO Software | MAXIMO 5 — Future Ready Technology, Today

About MRO Software
MRO Software is a leading provider of e-Business solutions for strategic asset management.
The Company’s integrated suite of applications optimizes performance, improves productivity and
service levels and enables asset-related sourcing and procurement across the entire spectrum of
strategic assets.

The Company’s asset management solutions allow customers to manage the complete lifecycle of
strategic assets including: planning, procurement, deployment, tracking, maintenance and retirement.
Using MRO Software’s solutions customers improve production reliability, labor efficiency, material
optimization, software license compliance, lease management, warranty and service management and
provisioning across the asset base.

MRO Software (Nasdaq: MROI) is a global company based in Bedford, MA, with approximately 1,000
employees. The Company markets its products through a direct sales organization in combination with
a network of international distributors. MRO Software has sales offices throughout North America,
Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Additional information on MRO Software can be found at
http://www.mro.com.

TM
MRO Software is a trademark of MRO Software, Inc.