ADP Collision Repair Services and Akzo Nobel Release Stellix Pro 3.1, Easy-to-Use Scheduling Module.

Business Editors

SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 2000

ADP Collision Repair Services and Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc. today announced the commercial release of Stellix Scheduling.

This new module, for the Stellix collision repair management system, allows body shop owners to save money by optimizing all of the available space in their facilities and taking better advantage of their technicians' time. The companies simultaneously released Stellix Pro 3.1, an updated version of the management system, which enables body shops to use Stellix Scheduling.

Scheduling enables body shops to quickly and easily schedule customers and provide realistic assessments of what jobs are coming in, what jobs are in progress, and what jobs are going out. The module allows users to easily schedule and track all repair jobs in the facility at all times.

"The new scheduling module available with Stellix Pro 3.1 provides the user with a quick, by-the-week glance at their shop's capacity," said Jamie Nolan, senior director of product management and marketing for ADP Collision Repair Services. "This application allows shops to determine if they are under-booked or over-booked for any given day and enables them to efficiently schedule incoming customers more accurately, eliminating the guesswork and manual calculation of when a vehicle should come in and when it will be completed."

According to Nolan, the development of the new scheduling module is the result of in-depth work with Stellix users and collision repair facility owners over the past year. These shop owners envisioned a new application to help them with the complex task of scheduling jobs without any complex data entry requirements, so Stellix Scheduling was created by shop owners for shop owners. The new module is also very simple to operate, which is essential in order for body shops to take advantage of its powerful features.

Scheduling is available as a supplement to Stellix Pro 3.1 and includes a number of specific features, including:

-- Customer scheduling

-- User-defined scheduling categories

-- Tracking actual jobs and reserved jobs

-- Calculating a job's scheduled end date

-- Redistributing job hours if the completion date changes

-- Ability to set daily shop capacity, including holidays

-- Automatic alerts for overdue reserved jobs

-- Ability to quickly find any job in the system

-- Easily viewed parts lists, labor requirements, sublet status, customer and
vehicle information

A Windows-based, multi-user collision repair management system, Stellix goes beyond traditional "job costing" systems and focuses on total operational productivity. Stellix provides collision repair facilities with extraordinary tracking capabilities to improve productivity and efficiency. The system monitors technician production and job costing on screens that closely resemble traditional systems and management tools used in body shop offices. Stellix also provides instant at-a-glance views of all repair orders, including the status and alerts in parts, labor, production and sublet work.

Stellix was developed jointly by ADP Collision Repair Services and Akzo Nobel. ADP Collision Repair Services is a strategic business unit of ADP Claims Solutions Group (CSG). With headquarters in San Ramon, Calif., ADP CSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE:AUD). ADP, with more than $6 billion in revenues and 500,000 clients, is one of the largest independent computing services firms in the world. ADP CSG provides the property and casualty industry, and their business partners, with integrated and independent information services for automotive, medical and property claims management in 18 countries. ADP Claims Solutions Group is located at 2010 Crow Canyon Place, San Ramon, Calif., 94583, 925/866-1100. The company's Web site can be found at http://www.csg.adp.com.

Akzo Nobel's North American Car Refinishes operation, with headquarters in Atlanta, manufactures and markets Sikkens(R)-brand paint refinish systems to high-quality collision repair shops. These products include Autocryl(R) acrylic urethane, Autobase(R) basecoat, Autoclear(R) clearcoat, a low VOC product offering that includes single stage Autocoat(R) Ultra LV, and Colorbuild(R), the industry's first true color undercoat. Akzo Nobel, with headquarters in the Netherlands, is one of the world's leading companies in selected areas of chemicals, coatings, and healthcare products, with over $14.5 billion in revenue.