Increased Benefits For Microsoft Great Plains Customers With Release Of Office XP
Auckland, 1 June, 2001 - Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions today confirmed that customers who were already
benefiting from the ability of Great Plains applications to integrate with the Microsoft Office suite, would see
improved business processing with the release of Microsoft® Office XP.
The support for Microsoft Office applications already built in to Release 6.0 of Great Plains' leading business
applications eEnterprise, Dynamics, Solomon, and Great Plains Siebel Front Office, will extend to the new versions of
products in the Office XP suite.
"We believe Microsoft Great Plains customers will be able to take advantage of the latest features in Office XP that
will improve productivity, collaboration and information-sharing across their organisations," said Richard Johnstone,
Australasian Managing Director for Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions. "By ensuring that the innovation built
into Release 6.0 of our eEnterprise products continues to function with this important Office upgrade, we are protecting
our customers' investments and increasing the benefits they receive from the close integration of Great Plains
applications with other Microsoft tools."
Phillip Jenkins, Business Development Manager for Microsoft Great Plains at Olympic Software, said that the level of
integration with the Office suite had already made Release 6.0 an extremely competitive and appealing tool for New
Zealand businesses.
"Release 6.0 lends itself very well for use by people who are comfortable with the Microsoft Office suite. The familiar
look and feel of the user interface, combined with the ability to transfer critical data easily between applications,
make it an ideal solution for medium-sized businesses in this market," he said.
"The fact that this integration will continue with the release of Office XP means that Great Plains customers can look
forward to another level of improved experience once they upgrade to this impressive new version of Office."
Effortless Integration Across Applications Great Plains applications offer simple integration with Office XP products in
a variety of forms. For example, the Dynamics and eEnterprise Explorer application provides automated export of any type
of customer data to Office XP products. This interface, which users can also modify to incorporate macros, enables
powerful functionality and allows automated charting, analysis, mail merge and other functions with a single click of
the mouse.
General Ledger, part of Dynamics, eEnterprise and Solomon, incorporates Excel-based budgeting. Customers can manage
budgets in Excel and integrate the information seamlessly into their financial management systems. In addition, the new
Integration Assistant in Excel 2002 allows customers to compile transactional and other critical business information in
Excel and easily transfer that data into their Great Plains applications. This versatility means customers leverage the
collaboration and programming capabilities of Office XP while maintaining full information in their financial database.
Solomon Application Server integrates with Microsoft Outlook, making it easier for multi-site organisations and remote
locations to request, contribute or collect business-critical information from anywhere in the company.
About Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions Microsoft Great Plains provides business applications that help small
and midmarket companies become more agile in today's interconnected economy by extending specific information and
procedures to employees, customers, vendors and partners. The business applications automate end-to-end business
processes across financials, distribution, project accounting, electronic commerce, human resources and payroll,
manufacturing, supply chain management, business analytics, sales and marketing management, and customer service and
support. More information about the solutions offered by Microsoft Great Plains can be found at
http://www.greatplains.com/or at http://microsoft.com/business/greatplains/. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT")
is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company
offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and
on any device.