Best Software Strengthens Mid-market Leadership With New Abra Web-based HR/payroll Solutions.

Business Editors

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 2001

Abra Enterprise Offers Affordable, Rapid Implementation and Comprehensive Features for Growing Businesses

Best Software, Inc., developer of award-winning Abra(R) HR/payroll and FAS(TM) fixed asset products, today announced its next generation of fully-integrated human resource management system (HRMS) solutions designed to provide even greater access flexibility, affordability and return on investment to growing mid-market companies.

Abra Enterprise(TM) is a fully-integrated, Web-native HRMS that delivers superior control over HR/payroll and benefits administration information. Engineered with secure, "roles-based" self-service functionality, it empowers employees with real-time, online access to company- and employee-level data to reduce the administrative burden on the HR/payroll department.

"More than 15,000 companies and other organizations already rely upon Abra Suite to meet their traditional HR, benefits and payroll administration needs," said Himanshu Palsule, executive vice president of marketing for Best Software. "With today's introduction of Abra Enterprise and Abra Online, we are enabling an even broader scope of customers to enjoy the value and performance benefits of more sophisticated, full-featured Abra solutions wherever, and whenever, they need them."

"Our objective in building a new Abra solution was to produce a flexible, powerful HR/payroll system that could be rapidly implemented, easily learned and quickly deployed throughout widely dispersed organizations," said Tom Tillman, product marketing director for Abra Enterprise.

Storm Lake, Iowa-based Buena Vista University, for example, has nearly 1,200 employees and 700 work-study students spread across 17 remote locations. A long-standing Abra Payroll customer, Buena Vista needed to distribute payroll processing administration to all of these locations while centralizing production in a single office, according to Sylvia Nelson, HRIS manager for Buena Vista University.

"Being able to streamline the payroll process across all our sites with Abra Enterprise represents a quantum leap forward in our HR administration," said Nelson. "By implementing the employee and manager roles modules, we expect to significantly reduce the current staff time and costs required to process payroll, track benefits and support our employees. This successful transition reinforces our philosophy about technological advances and our desire to remain on the cutting edge of technology."

Abra Enterprise offers a full range of powerful HR, payroll and benefits management features, including point-in-time history reporting, more than 100 standard reports and flexible OLAP pivot tables, plus Crystal Report Writer for unlimited report customization options. Other features include:

-- Collection and analysis of company-wide compensation and benefits data

-- Integrated employee self-service process workflows, including benefits
enrollment, life events, payroll and manager functions

-- Flexible position management and organization structures to reflect
real-world organizations

-- Intuitive, easy-to-use browser interface that requires no client software

-- Web-native design for performance, scalability, security and connectivity
over the Internet and today's private networks

-- Microsoft SQL Server database supports pure Web protocols, including SSL;
runs on Windows 2000 and NT platforms

Abra Enterprise will be available in November 2001. A 300-employee HR license starts at $9,000. Abra Lease-IT financing options are also available from certified Abra resellers nationwide.

In a related announcement, Best has also introduced Abra Online(TM), an Internet-based service for companies of 50 to 500 employees, offering affordable subscription-based pricing on a per-employee/per-month basis. It offers rapid implementation and all the technology benefits of the Abra Enterprise platform, but with simplified features for companies with limited in-house IT resources.

About Best Software

Best Software, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, is a leading provider of solutions which help organizations transform the way they manage their human capital and fixed assets. With more than 50,000 customers throughout North America, it develops scalable, cost-effective solutions which complement core financial management systems and support the full spectrum of Microsoft platforms, including Windows(R) 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, BackOffice(R) and SQL Server. For further information, call 800/368-2499, send an email to [e-mail], or access our Web site at www.bestsoftware.com.

Best, Best Software, the Best logo, Abra and Abra Suite are registered trademarks, and Abra Enterprise and Abra Online are trademarks of Best Software. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners