CUNA Mutual Group Completes First Paperless Open Enrollment Powered By Authoria and PeopleSoft.

Business/Technology Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2002

Authoria HR 3.0 Pre-Integrated with PeopleSoft eBenefits Provides

Powerful ROI, Boosts Employee Satisfaction as CUNA Mutual Group

Migrates HR to the Web

Authoria Inc., the trusted world leader in personalized, dynamically generated, Web-based communication, today announced that CUNA Mutual Group has completed its first paperless benefits open enrollment powered by Authoria HR 3.0. This represents the first phase in the company's full migration of its human resources (HR) benefits program to the Web, which will eventually include implementation of all ten modules of Authoria HR 3.0. The ultimate goal: providing dynamically generated, personalized answers to vital questions employees have about their health coverage, their financial benefits, or their sick and vacation time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

CUNA Mutual Group employs 5,000 people - in two main campuses and field offices around the country - and encompasses seven distinct business entities, each offering benefit plans pegged to different employee groups. They needed a robust, scaleable solution that could manage multiple data from this array of companies, employees and over 25 different benefit plans. By automating annual benefits enrollment via online self-service tools from Authoria and PeopleSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSFT), CUNA Mutual Group has significantly reduced time and money traditionally associated with administering open enrollment, while freeing up HR staff to focus on more strategic functions. Of greatest importance, however, is the program's popularity with employees, 20 percent of whom enrolled in the first week of implementation.

One popular feature and timesaver for CUNA Mutual Group employees is the ability to instantly generate customizable benefit plan comparisons before making an online enrollment decision. Traditionally, employees received benefit plan comparison forms through the mail. In the case that they sought additional counsel in determining the best benefit plan for their needs, they were reliant upon the mailed summary plan descriptions and phone calls during work hours to the company's HR department for assistance.

"As a company with a customer intimacy focus, we want our employees to have the same experience our customers do -- that is a rich and rewarding one that fosters loyalty," said Keith Williams, senior vice president for Human Resources for CUNA Mutual Group. "Authoria is a key enabler in our overall B2E strategy."

"We did our due diligence, and nobody came close to Authoria in delivering critical HR and benefits knowledge to our employees via online self-service," Williams continued. "Moreover, Authoria's pre-integration with PeopleSoft eBenefits has given us the best-of-breed functionality we were looking for."

"CUNA Mutual Group is in the vanguard of companies realizing the benefits of empowering employees with self-service," said Tod Loofbourrow, president and CEO of Authoria. "By integrating PeopleSoft's and Authoria's world-class HR knowledgebase, CUNA Mutual Group is able to offer employees a truly scaleable and robust self-service solution that elevates the strategic importance of HR in their enterprise."

"The Authoria integration complements PeopleSoft's industry-leading self-service product offering," said Don Chun, director of Global HRMS Product Strategy at PeopleSoft. "By enabling seamless access to Authoria's content throughout PeopleSoft eBenefits, customers can deploy dynamic, personalized and content-rich solutions that take employee communications to new levels of immediacy, accuracy and consistency."

Impressive ROI through Employee Self-Service

According to an ROI study conducted by Cedar, a leading HR consultancy, the implementation of employee self-service powered by Authoria and PeopleSoft will deliver the following bottom-line savings:

-- 50% reduction in cycle time

-- 60% reduction in cost per transaction

-- 75% reduction in inquiries made directly to the HR department

-- 50% increase in employee satisfaction

-- 100% payback in one year after implementation

Overall, CUNA Mutual Group expects to realize $2.3 million in employee productivity gains with an approximate 40% rate of return over 5 years.

About Authoria HR and PeopleSoft Pre-Integration

Authoria HR 3.0 is a Web-based application designed for the personalized communication of benefit plan and HR policies to employees. Authoria HR provides dynamically generated, personalized answers to vital questions for employees. By enabling businesses to deliver consistent, timely and accurate benefits information online to their employees, Authoria provides the means to improve employee communication, reduce administrative costs, and increase HR's strategic contribution to the business.

CUNA Mutual Group selected Authoria HR 3.0 pre-integrated with the PeopleSoft 8 eBenefits Collaborative Application. The Authoria-PeopleSoft pre-integration allows Authoria HR 3.0 and PeopleSoft 8 to share information by placing strategic links within the eBenefits application that enable employees to access personalized content. The synthesized technology provides employees with self-service and one-stop shopping for individualized benefit and policy related information and transactions.

About CUNA Mutual Group

CUNA Mutual Group is the leading financial services provider to credit unions and their members worldwide. Their mission is creating financial security, and their vision is to be the best at serving credit unions and their members. CUNA Mutual Group currently has some 5,000 employees and assets of more than $8.5 billion. They provide insurance and financial services to credit unions to meet the insurance, annuities, mutual funds, and general investment needs of approximately 8,000,000 credit union members across the United States.

About Authoria

Authoria is the trusted world leader in personalized, Web-based communication. Authoria's software allows employers and health care insurance providers to communicate vital information to their employees and customers via the Internet, Intranet or call center - anywhere, anytime. Millions of people rely on Authoria's products through leading outsourcers such as Buck Consultants, Inc. and Exult and Global 2000 industry leaders such as McDonald's Corporation, Weyerhaeuser and Wells Fargo. With a unique blend of Internet technology and an unparalleled knowledgebase, Authoria HR(TM), Authoria eSPD(TM), and Authoria AnswerWise(TM), provide employers and benefit providers with an application to deliver intelligent, personalized, Web-based answers to thousands of benefit and HR policy questions. Authoria's products instantly and dynamically generate answers to employee and member questions based on their individual needs.

Note to editors: Authoria, Authoria eSPD, Authoria HR, Authoria AnswerWise, Authoria Outsourcer and Authoria HR UK Benefits are trademarks or registered trademarks of Authoria, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other product names and references contained herein remain the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.