Company History
From 1995 to today the company has built work and project management software on top of the contemporary industry-leading collaborative platforms.
We are the only company to have developed and delivered a commercial software product on the following leading collaborative platforms: Lotus Notes; Microsoft Exchange 2000 Webstore; SharePoint 2001; SharePoint 2003; SharePoint 2007; and SharePoint 2010.
We are very happy to be on the SharePoint platform with our product set and the same basic product mission we have always had: to deliver class-leading, process-driven, work and project management software.
A brief summary of BrightWork history is included here:
1995:
- The company is incorporated as aimware
- Release of an alpha of the first product, aimfirst on Lotus Notes Release 3
1996:
- The first release of aimfirst is deployed by organizations like Eastman Kodak and Motorola and includes modules for process and project management using Lotus Notes Release 4
- Certified to ISO 9001: TickIT in May (the speed of certification was regarded as a world record)
1997
aimstep is released and deployed by organizations like Dun and Bradstreet and Bank of Chicago with support for Product Management (requirements, tests, builds, defects, etc.) again using Lotus Notes Release 4- aimfirst continues to evolve with new process centric modules for Standards Mgmt, Quality Mgmt, Request / Priority Management, etc.
- Received Lotus Worldwide and European ‘Beacon’ Awards. One of the awards was presented by Ray Ozzi, the then head of Lotus Notes development and now the CTO at Microsoft!
1998:
- Awarded Lotus Premium Partner status
- Approached by Microsoft to join the Microsoft Exchange 2000 JDP (Joint Dev. Program)
- Formally started research and development into a Microsoft release of the "aimware" product set, code-named TeamCentral
- Irish Software Association Young Company of the Year Award
1999
- The aimware suite (aimfirst and aimstep) was evolved into a web application coincident with the release of Lotus Notes/Domino R5
- Beta release of TeamCentral on the Microsoft Exchange 2000 beta platform
2000:
The first release of TeamCentral on the Microsoft Exchange 2000 platform- Formally became a Microsoft Certified Partner
- Approached by Microsoft to join the SharePoint 2001 JDP (Joint Dev. Program)
2001
- aimfirst release of the first language variant - Spanish
- The launch of TeamCentral for SharePoint 2001
- TeamCentral is independently tested, verified and certified as Windows Compatible
2002
- More TeamCentral releases
- Approached by Microsoft to join the SharePoint 2003 JDP (Joint Dev. Program)
2003
- Approached by Microsoft to join the Microsoft SharePoint DAC (Developer Advisory Council)
- Approached by Microsoft to join the Visual Studio Team System 2005 TAP (Technology Adoption Program)
‘aimware’ the name became synonymous with our Lotus Notes/Domino product of the same name. When we introduced a Microsoft product we felt it had to have a different name (BrightWork). With the move away from Lotus to Microsoft, decided to trademark BrightWork™ and do business as BrightWork to simplify customer communications.- BrightWork gets a license from Microsoft to use Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) Intellectual Property in BrightWork solutions
2004
- We deliver the final release of TeamCentral (as the underlying webstore platform had been retired by Microsoft in favor of SharePoint on SQL Server)
- More work on BrightWork for Microsoft SharePoint (on the SQL Server database)
- BrightWork Solutions for SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is released and included in a Microsoft campaign to promote the server version of SharePoint
2005
- BrightWork is independently tested and verified as Windows Compatible
- BrightWork becomes a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
- BrightWork Reporter for SharePoint 2003 released
- November: begin serious work on BrightWork for SharePoint 2007
- 2 releases of BrightWork Solutions and BrightWork Reporter
- Approached by Microsoft to join the SharePoint v3, Office 12 and Project 12 Technology Adoption Program
2006
- 2 releases of BrightWork Solutions and BrightWork Reporter
- Approached by Microsoft to join the Microsoft "SharePoint 2009" DAC (Developer Advisory Council)
2007
- March: release of BrightWork pmPoint (the renamed BrightWork Solutions) and BrightWork Reporter for SharePoint 2007
- Continue to pass ISO 9001: TickIT surveillance audits and retain the ISO 9001 certification
- November: another release BrightWork and BrightWork Reporter for SharePoint 2007 (with Microsoft Project integration included)
2008
- Release of BrightWork and Reporter v5.5
- Launched BrightWork for Sure Step in partnership with Microsoft
- Release of BrightWork and Reporter v6.0
- Launched BrightWork Online (SaaS) in partnership with Teamportal.com
2009
- Release of BrightWork 7.0
- BrightWork invited to speak at Microsoft Project Conference 09 on the topic of ‘Opening SharePoint to Project 2010’
- BrightWork attends the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009
- At both the Microsoft Project Conference 09, and the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009, BrightWork demonstrates an early beta of BrightWork 2010, on SharePoint 2010, and connecting with Microsoft Project 2010
- Release of BrightWork 8.0
2010
- Release of BrightWork 9.0 for both SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010
- June: pmPoint 9.0 for SharePoint 2007 released, preview of pmPoint 9.0 for SharePoint 2010
- September: Release of pmPoint 9.0 for SharePoint 2010
2011
- May: Release of pmPoint v9.5 for SharePoint 2007 and 2010
- October: BrightWork attends Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2011
- November: BrightWork invited to present at International Project Management Day 2011 on the topic of “Using SharePoint for Project and Portfolio Management”
2012
- February: Release of BrightWork 10 for SharePoint
- March: BrightWork invited to speak at Microsoft Project Conference 2012 on the topic of “Which is the best solution for Project Management? Excel or SharePoint or Project Desktop or Project Server?”
- March: Launched ProjectShare Online in partnership with Project Hosts
- March: Partnered with Microsoft to promote SharePoint and Microsoft Project together for smart project management
