MetricStream Inc., the Redwood Shores, Calif. quality and compliance software developer, later this month plans to unveil a compliance applications suite positioned for end-to-end management of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.

The SOX Section 404 suite is built upon MetricStream's Enterprise Compliance Platform, and will be served by the same dashboard interface as other modules, supporting other regulations, such as FDA's 21CFR Part 11, USDA's HACCP, TS16949/2002, and ISO9000. The modular approach of incorporating applications for specific regulations under an overall compliance platform will allow customers to deploy Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance capabilities today, but also position themselves to support their other compliance initiatives in the future with the same software, according to Anil Gupta, MetricStream vice president of marketing.

"Most companies have to comply with multiple government regulations and industry mandates, but until now they had to support separate compliance systems for every regulation," said Gupta. "That silo approach to supporting multiple regulations provides less visibility, which means more risk, and leads to a higher cost of compliance."

Key modules in the MetricStream suite for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 include:

• MetricStream Design: Enables the organization to document the control hierarchy, design assessment plans, and setup the compliance environment for all the business units within the organization.
• MetricStream Assess: Enables the organization to schedule and perform assessments of design effectiveness and operational effectiveness of the controls.
• MetricStream Improve: Enables the organization to manage the remediation, exception, and disclosure processes, track their status, and ensure successful completion.
• MetricStream Monitor: Provides visibility into the ongoing compliance efforts within the organization through role based dashboards and scorecards.
• MetricStream Document Management: Provides a central repository for all documents required for compliance with Section 404 including company's policies, procedures, process documentation and all other regulatory and legal information.
• MetricStream Training: Enables the organization to make compliance a part of the company's culture by driving consistency through managing all aspects of employee training.
• MetricStream Audit: Performs process-level self-assessments and provides support for internal and external auditors.