Microsoft Ships Sarbanes-Oxley Office Accelerator

The Office Solution Accelerator for Sarbanes-Oxley relies on Microsoft's SharePoint Services and its XML forms creator, InfoPath 2003, and is designed primarily for its partners, who will use it to build Office 2003-based systems for documenting and reviewing internal financial controls, a key requirement of sections 302 and 404 of the Act.

Microsoft's Accelerators -- collections of software tools, templates, and best practices guides that integrate with its Office 2003 productivity suite -- are offered up at no charge by the Redmond, Wash.-based developer.

The Accelerator allows multiple employees or teams in several locations to collaborate on task management and reporting; includes built-in audit trail features; and lets executives store, access, and manage compliance data, including monitoring the status of any tracked document.

More information about the Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator can be found on the Microsoft Web site; as of mid-morning Monday, however, a link to download the Accelerator had not yet been posted.

Also on Monday, Microsoft touted the success of its Office 2003 suite, claiming that global retail sales since its October, 2003, release were double that of predecessor Office XP during the same span. Microsoft was less enthusiastic about sales through its volume licensing programs -- the typical route enterprises use to acquire Office -- simply stating that sales there were "good."

This story courtesy of TechWeb