In a move aimed at bringing together data warehousing and analytic applications, PeopleSoft Inc. yesterday disclosed a development partnership with data integration software vendor Informatica Corp.

Under the agreement, PeopleSoft will integrate Informatica's PowerMart into its recently released Enterprise Performance Management software package, which lets companies analyze information generated by their enterprise resource planning systems. PowerMart deploys and manages a line of business data marts and analytic applications by sourcing large volumes of data from multiple platforms and supporting high-speed data loading. What makes the offering most useful, according to PeopleSoft, is that PowerMart is an open system. "This technology will help users bring in data for analysis, not just from PeopleSoft, but from other ERP systems and internal systems as well," says Tom Patterson, PeopleSoft's EPM product marketing director.

John Hagerty, research director at AMR Research, says the partnership will let PeopleSoft bolster its EPM system by combining transformation and analysis of data from different sources into one system. "It's really a fresh face for PeopleSoft when they recognize that they need to use third-party technology within the body of their offering and not just partnerships," Hagerty said.

The integrated EPM and PowerMart offering will be available through PeopleSoft in the fourth quarter of this year. Pricing is not yet available.