California Transportation Agency Completes Lawson HR Implementation on Time, on Budget.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Software Applications Help Orange County Transportation Authority Reduce Operating Costs While Improving Service to Employees

After a highly successful on-time, on-budget implementation, the latest Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) applications are now helping Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) automate and streamline its HR processes, including payroll and benefits enrollment. The agency went live on Lawson's Human Resources and Reporting Suites, as well as its e-Recruiting and ProcessFlow Professional applications, on Sept. 27, 2004.

As Orange County's primary transportation agency, OCTA provides bus and commuter rail service to the county's more than 3 million residents. The Authority also manages local street, road and freeway projects. By replacing a 20-year-old, homegrown HR system with the Web-based Lawson applications, OCTA is improving service to its employees while saving taxpayer dollars through automation and reduced IT support costs.

"The Lawson applications will benefit Orange County taxpayers by helping to streamline business processes, improve the accuracy of our reporting and lower operating costs," said Lloyd Sullivan, PMP, senior project manager, Orange County Transportation Authority. "Lawson is delivering on its commitments."

The Lawson system also helps OCTA more efficiently manage the entire recruiting process and hire the most qualified candidates. Specifically, the e-Recruiting application enables HR managers to automate administrative tasks, such as scheduling interviews, ordering background checks on job candidates and sending offer letters.

Managing complex software implementations has been a growing challenge for public sector organizations. In contrast, OCTA's Sullivan cites an outstanding project team, senior executive sponsorship, timely communication to employees and Lawson's strong partnership with OCTA as critical factors in completing this implementation on time and on budget.

OCTA began the implementation in August 2003 with a kick-off meeting to communicate project objectives throughout the organization. Working with Lawson Consulting Services, OCTA then conducted extensive Lawson training for the core project team and technical staff. The project team used a Web site on OCTA's intranet to share information and conducted weekly meetings for project leads and technical staff. Throughout the implementation, a Technology Review Committee, led by OCTA's assistant CEO, met monthly to oversee the project and measure progress.

"This was one of the most talented and highly effective project teams I've worked with," added Sullivan. "The two key lessons we learned include taking ownership of the software as early in the process as possible and identifying and helping any employees struggling with the business process changes as quickly as possible."

With the core Lawson HR system now in place, OCTA anticipates cost reductions through automation of payroll, benefits open enrollment and administrative time entry. In coming months, the Authority expects to realize additional time and cost savings via enhanced use of Lawson ProcessFlow Professional workflow software and by rolling out the Lawson Employee and Manager Self-Service module. According to Sullivan, these applications will enable OCTA to further automate time-consuming HR processes, such as salary changes and job requisition approvals, while improving service to OCTA's 1,900 employees.

For example, the Self-Service application will enable OCTA employees to access and maintain their own benefits information via a Web browser instead of calling the HR department with questions pertaining to vacation time, health insurance and other information. OCTA managers also will be able to use the system to track and maintain information about their direct reports.

OCTA also will use Lawson's custom interfaces with the Orange County Employees Retirement System and the California Public Employees' Retirement System to transmit employee retirement information.

Lawson serves more than 140 government and education clients, including three of the nation's top 10 "digital states" listed in the Center for Digital Government's 2004 Digital States Survey. School districts, cities, counties, state governments, publicly owned utilities, municipal districts and membership organizations use Lawson's software, which gives them more time to focus on value-creating activities. These organizations depend on Lawson's solutions to help meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders - students, constituents, members, employees, vendors and the community - while maximizing limited budgets.

About Lawson Software

Lawson Software provides business application software and services that put time on the side of services organizations in the healthcare, retail, government and education, banking and insurance and other markets. Lawson's software suites include enterprise performance management, distribution, financials, human resources, procurement, retail operations and service process optimization. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., Lawson has offices and affiliates serving North and South America, Europe and Africa. Additional information about Lawson is available at www.lawson.com.

About OCTA

For more information about OCTA, call the Transportation Helpline at 800-724-0353 or visit OCTA's Web site at www.octa.net.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements contain statements of intent, belief or current expectations of Lawson Software, Inc., and its management. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company is not obligated to update forward-looking statements based on circumstances or events that occur in the future. In addition to factors discussed above, risks and uncertainties that may cause such differences include but are not limited to: a decline in general economic conditions; uncertainties in the software industry; global military conflicts; terrorist attacks in the United States, and any future events in response to these developments; changes in conditions in the company's targeted service industries; increased competition and other risk factors listed in the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and as included in other documents the company files from time to time with the Commission.