Tech startup of the month; Promantek Inc., highlands ranch www.promantek.com founded: July 2000.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Hightech Coloradobiz - Brief Article

IN A NUTSHELL: Built on a foundation of Microsoft and Java technology, Promantek's TrakStar is a secure, Web-based system that automates and improves the performance appraisal process. Managers customize TrakStar to fit their organization, tailoring job descriptions and competencies related to performance in each job. Each employee is ranked in each competency, and the software generates a database of employee performance.

Glenn Martin said that performance appraisal is generally not a dynamic exercise. "What's missing in a lot of the systems is that the managers aren't able to verbalize the success factors--the how-to is missing," he explained. TrakStar avoids this pitfall by making both job competencies and an employee's progression in the competencies concrete. Users in key verticals (i.e. banking, hospitality) have licensed templates back to Promantek to be resold as part of TrakStar so new users in the same vertical can avoid the time required to design and...