Niku:

Founded in 1998, Niku is a leader in the field of Enterprise Portfolio Management (EPM) and ffers a solution known as Clarity as its core offering, an EPM solution comprised of nine portfolio and project management modules. In August 2005, Niku was acquired by Computer Associates International, Inc (CA) in August 2005 for a reported $350 million. In addition, the company pany released an open-source workbench client solution known as Open Workbench (OWB); formerly known as ABT Workbench, OWB is a Microsoft® Win32® project scheduling application comparable to Microsoft Project 98. In 1999 and 2000, Niku acquired ABT and Proamics and incorporated these solutions into its solution offering. OWB 1.1 became generally available in January 2005.

CA Clarity:
There are nine modules in the Clarity solution. Five of these modules are used to perform various work duties throughout the company (i.e., the Project Manager, Financial Manager, Portfolio Manager, Resource Planner, and the newly-added Demand Manager); the remaining four modules (i.e., Process Manager Clarity Studio, Schedule Connect, and Service Connect) are designed for configuration, integration, and augmentation of the system. Automated procedures and workflows may allow an author to create streamlined methods and processes.

Niku Clarity is designed to provide support for:

• IT Management and Governance
• Project Portfolio Management
• New Product Development
• Project and Resource Management
• Product Launch and Roll-Out
• Professional Services Automation
• Six Sigma

Open Workbench:
OWB 1.1.4 provides stand-alone desktop project planning, scheduling, and resource management. With the purchase of Schedule Connector, the certified version will serve as a front-end for the Clarity solution. The Workbench scheduling tool is now a decadeold technology that Niku obtained through its acquisition of ABT in 2000. Following acquisition, Niku did not release any substantial Workbench revisions prior to releasing it as open source software. Workbench was designed to run exclusively on Microsoft Windows®.

Niku-Clarity's Strengths:

Niku has a number of highly recognizable customers including 3M, Best Buy, Emerson, Philips, and Unilever.Clarity has extremely strong project management functionality as well as document management capability that includes both check-in and check-out. Niku’s solutions overlap with Microsoft Go to Market (GTM) targets. CA’s financial resources and installed base may support accelerated growth and pose a potential challenge to Microsoft in the future.

• A broad package that covers both front- and back-office functions.
• Strong marketing pitch for easy deployment (e.g. “Zero to Niku in 30 Days”).
• The ability to do a “Fast Plan” (no Critical Path Method or “CPM” schedule) instead of a “Power plan” (Microsoft Project Professional or Workbench).
• Excellent resource management, with robust search and weighting capability as well as capacity planning functions that allow comparison of demand and capacity.
• Professional project cost accounting functionality (purchased and integrated Proamics functionality).
• Integrated portal functionality.
• Top-down or bottom-up planning and budgeting.
• Document management with Check-in and Check-out.
• Strong time sheet and workflow capabilities (including integration via the Service Connect: Remedy module).
• Can scale up from to 100,000 users at multiple global locations with a three-tier, J2EE, “G2000 Architecture.’” In addition, it integrates well with other technologies, supporting heterogeneous environments: e.g. operating systems (IBM AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows),
relational databases (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server™, Oracle8i, and Oracle 9i), and application servers (e.g. BEA
WebLogic and IBM WebSphere).
• More “out-of-the box” functionality than Microsoft Project Professional 2003, including numerous pre-defined methodologies, standard reports, standard processes, currency conversion, and integrated portals.

Clarity's Weakness:
Niku Clarity has some very large deployments. While Niku Clarity has indeed been adopted by a number of Global 2000 companies, many of these accounts must support it with an eclectic mix of solutions that may not have substantially changed since the technology was first acquired from ABT in 2000.

Clarity requires a desktop scheduling tool (Niku’s OWB is available at no charge), but requires purchase of Schedule Connect.

Customization can be challenging without direct Niku involvement. Deployment can frequently be complex and more involved than the “Zero to Niku in 30 Days” pitch. Solution management can be complex and time consuming; additionally, licensing and maintenance fees may be high depending upon the specific modules and functionality selected. Clarity does not have its own scheduling engine; customers use Niku’s Schedule Connect in order to use scheduling and it requires Open Workbench or Microsoft Project Professional for detailed scheduling.

Clarity only connects to Open Workbench through Schedule Connect, a module for which Niku charges and supports (at additional cost) only the certified version─not any open-source variants. This may prevent a customer from realizing anticipated cost benefits from OWB. Clarity’s modular system requires integration which may be challenging, with or without Niku’s support. Many customers may find this required integration challenging to administer, learn, and manage.

Every server configuration requires Microsoft and Oracle components (and/or deployment on BEA and IBM solutions), although none of these components ship with the Clarity solution. Customers must possess or purchase the appropriate architectural stack, engage skilled resources, and maintain the resulting environment.

Conclusion:
In Gartner's Magic Quadrant, Niku-Clarity is a leader till 2007 end. Niku positions itself as an ”IT Management and Governance” or “ITMG” vendor, a term the company has coined to describe solutions that manage people, processes, and projects in the middle office. Niku solutions are primarily targeted to meet the needs of large enterprises. Its Clarity solution, an integrated suite of modules, enables users to more effectively evaluate, analyze and execute the portfolio of investments thus delivering measurable business value.
Niku appears to be targeting vertical service industries, including financial systems, healthcare, networking, and telecommunications. The company’s growth has been supported through acquisitions.

(This is an independent review based upon my knowledge from various references)