Integrity Manger's "Worktray," fully immerses developers in Visual Studio's integrated development environment (IDE). For the first time, developers can run queries, receive work assignments, review, and update their work without stepping outside the IDE.

David Martin, vice president of product management at MKS, stated, "MKS, as a premier member of the Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program, already offers one of the most robust enterprise software configuration management (ESCM) integrations on the market today into the .NET environment. Now, with our integrated workflow capabilities, developers can follow prescribed process with ease. In turn, project managers can trust that development work is properly resourced, and have immediate visibility through MKS Integrity Manager of work assignments and progress. We are proud to continue our track record of innovation and support for the .NET Framework."

Also, MKS Integrity Manager provides easy linkage between all software changes and approved development tasks. This is of prime importance to IT departments' audit-ability within enterprises. By allowing development work to be traceable from beginning to end, enterprises can ensure they are following an increasing numbner of compliance initiatives.

David Martin, noting these new rules, said, "IT organizations who have a strategic investment in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Microsoft .NET Framework-based programming environments, and who are seeking to reach higher levels of process maturity or comply with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, will be delighted with this new capability."

At Microsoft, the ability to review development "trails," is an important tool in fostering improved group dynamics.

Prashant Sridharan, .NET senior product manager at Microsoft, said, "The MKS Integrity Manager Worktray creates an audit trail of who is working on what code and makes requirements, test cases, plans and results available to all team members, significantly enhancing project visibility."

Sridharan complimented MKS for having added Integrity Manager to Visual Studio .NET, specifically mentioning the improvements it brings to collaborative work. "MKS's new MKS Integrity Manager Worktray promotes collaboration and provides team coordination for Visual Studio .NET development projects. Microsoft is pleased that MKS has integrated this solution into Visual Studio as it provides our mutual customers a way to manage the entire application life cycle from within the IDE."