London, 1 October 2010

Next week, CommodityPoint will issue version 2.0 of the highly popular CTRM SourceBook. Version 1 was issued in April of this year, and we estimate that there may be close to 10,000 copies in circulation already (based on close to 4,000 downloads from our sites forwarded two to three times to others).

CommodityPoint has had a great deal of positive feedback regarding this product and sightings of the SourceBook in the hands of various leading companies in the industry have been reported to us on a weekly basis. Some vendors have told us that they can directly attribute inquiries to it, too.

The new version includes some updated listings for many of the vendors included in Version 1.0,but also includes several new listings including: Russian-based Constellation of Energy Solutions, Vienna-based IRM (an OLF company), Pioneer Solutions, Sisu Group, TransGraph and WellPoint Systems. In all this newest edition of the CTRM SourceBook now covers a total of 40 vendor and products and has become the definitive document for CTRM software.

What is The CTRM SourceBook?

The CommodityPoint CTRM Software SourceBook is designed to be a useful and usable resource to help those seeking to select CTRM software. The SourceBook is a starting point in that process, serving as a high-level guide and providing necessary information for the development of a "long list" of vendors for inclusion in an RFI and/or RFP process. It is designed to be a tool for the first step in a selection process to determine which vendors are suitable candidates to support your needs.

It is NOT designed to be a replacement for your selection process. CTRM software is simply too complex to be selected properly without a reliable and complete selection process. We hope the CommodityPoint CTRM SourceBook will allow the compilation of a list of vendors that may include some that might otherwise have been overlooked. In that way, we believe it can make the selection process more complete and reduce risk, enabling its users to find a "best fit" solution that they may have otherwise not been aware of.

We have developed a readily consumable format for each vendor and product listing that has summary information about each vendor and product that includes:

• Functional and commodity coverage

• Contact details

• CommodityPoint research highlights

• Product and vendor information

• Representative clients

• Geographical and industry segment distribution of users

The functional coverage of each product and the vendors' regional and industry experience with that product is presented in charts which are easily readable and comparable amongst the various products.

CommodityPoint's methodology for constructing the SourceBook was to develop a spreadsheet and questionnaire for each vendor. The spreadsheet was completed by the vendor in which they identified by commodity and function or feature whether their software had capabilities that were in use by a current user, capabilities not currently used by a client or lacked capabilities in each area. These were inspected by CommodityPoint and some adjustments made before final collation of the information. The questionnaire was used, in part, to complete the vendor/product listing along with information collected in other CommodityPoint surveys and research. The listings are compiled by CommodityPoint analysts.

What the CTRM SourceBook is NOT

The CTRM SourceBook is certainly not designed to replace the buyer's normal selection process which should be rigorous and test vendor claims accordingly. It should also be noted that the listings represent a particular version of the vendor's software. This is important because vendors often release upgrades to their software at a high rate of frequency (perhaps three - four times per year).

Neither is the CTRM SourceBook meant to be a definitive account of a vendor's software as the rate of change of functionality in products would preclude us from doing this. We took the view that we would simply find a reasonable level of detail at which prospective buyers could determine if a vendor's solution may be something to consider for inclusion in an RFI/RFP process. In this, it is entirely effective, allowing the buyer to rapidly identify possible solutions by inspection of the software chart in each listing, and to see if the vendor has representative clients that may have similar requirements in the geographic and segment distribution chart.

Ranking CTRM Products

CommodityPoint has often been asked to rank CTRM vendors and products. We will not do this because, as we have stated several times in the past, we feel that CTRM software is so complex that there is no meaningful set of criteria to use to rank them, and we feel that any attempt to do so is overly simplistic—and frankly—naive. Vendors may desire some form of endorsement from CommodityPoint and ask us to rank them; however, we would prefer to provide tools, analysis and insights to reduce risk and complexity for prospective buyers rather than engage in some form of vendor ranking which would provide little real value to the market.

The CTRM SourceBook is one such tool and our periodic Vendor Perception reports are another. There will be no general or generic vendor or product ranking from CommodityPoint, rather there will be considered advice based on a deep understanding of the complexities of this market and the unique requirements of the prospective buyers who utilize our CTRM Selection Audit and Advisory Services.

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By Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D. Managing Director, Europe and AsiaPac

www.commoditypoint.com