Partnership beefs up AMS e-gov

American Management Systems Inc. will be able to integrate e-government

solutions more efficiently through its expanded partnership with webMethods

Inc., AMS announced Monday.

The partnership — which started with an agreement to use webMethods'

enterprise integration tools in AMS' Defense Department applications — will

now allow AMS to embed webMethods' B2Bi platform into its Momentum financial

management software, beginning with Procurement Desktop-Defense, an AMS

contract management system at DOD.

AMS plans to use the partnership to offer a suite of e-government and

e-procurement solutions, according to a company statement.

B2Bi will help AMS integrate Momentum with other systems at federal

agencies, such as procurement and travel management applications from AMS

partners Ariba Inc. and Gelco Information Network.

The new Momentum offering will allow agencies to link Momentum Financials

with other administrative systems and Web-based solutions, easily integrate

interdepartmental applications and use any form of Extensible Markup Language

to interface with Momentum, the company said.

AMS is trying to take advantage of the latest advances in the commercial

market for integration, said Michael Dow, vice president of acquisition

business solutions in AMS' Public Sector Group, in an October interview.

Enterprise integration tools like those offered by webMethods have changed

the business case for out-of-the-box enterprise resource planning systems,

Dow said, and integration tools make it easier to link up with agencies'

existing legacy and Web-based systems.