Litigation Support

In my recent post about metadata, and how attorneys finally seem to be climbing about the Metadata Scrubbing Express, I mentioned how much we like and recommend Metadata Assistant when we lecture.

Metadata Assistant is indeed a terrific program for smaller firms. I should have (and didn't) mention Metadata Assistant (Enterprise Version) which is a great solution for any firm with 25 or more users. Donna Payne is the CEO of Payne Consulting which is the company that developed Metadata Assistant. She is also a longtime friend (and has more than her share of humility - a rare and wondrous quality among vendors). Donna wrote to ask me politely if there was something wrong with the Enterprise Version and if that was why I had failed to mention it.

It was now my turn for humility - and the truth is that our clientele is on the smaller side and doesn't tend to use the Enterprise Version so I had no familiarity with it.

Last week, I was "taken to school" by Janet Del Aguila, one of the nice ladies who provides support for all the versions of Metadata Assistant, so I can speak with slightly more authority today.

Enterprise Version 3.1, which is Office 2010 ready, runs easily in enterprises with 50,000-100,000 users. It looks much like the simpler version I know, but for four magic XML files which allows IT administrators to set up and enforce global metadata policies.

One of the nice features of this software is that the company will work with customers to install and customize it. And if you want to upgrade from the regular version to the Enterprise Version, you'll be sent those four little files, then provided with support to customize and your upgrade is done.

There's a lot of financial incentive to upgrade (and I'd upgrade just to enforce global policies because we all know that users are not to be trusted with security decisions). A single Metadata Assistant license is $89. Once you hit 25 users, the per user cost comes down to $64 for a purchase total of $1600, which includes one year of maintenance, software upgrades and telephone and e-mail support. At 100 users, the per user price comes down to $46 for a purchase price of $4600, which includes the same one year of maintenance, etc. After that, if you continue to use the program, 25 users would pay $320 annually and 100 users would pay $920 annually for the maintenance, upgrades and phone and e-mail support.

So there you have the benefit of my education for the day. John was with me in the virtual classroom and he applauded what he saw, which is technical affirmation of what I liked as a consumer. I should also note that Donna (and her company) have a great reputation for integrity (not a word I use lightly). So whether you are large or small, you can use either Metadata Assistant or Metadata Assistant (Enterprise Version). Thanks for the education Donna and Janet!

E-mail: snelson@senseient.com   Phone: 703-359-0700

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