Darden Restaurants, Inc. Finds SmartAnalysis a Flexible, User-Friendly Banking Management Solution.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

OWING MILLS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2004

World's Largest Chain of Casual Dining Establishments Implements

Chesapeake System Solutions' Package

A common observation about a lot of commercial-grade accounting and treasury management software applications is that they look like accounting and treasury management software. Inflexible data entry options, unfamiliar and counter-intuitive navigation, monochrome presentation of data, incompatibility with other software, high training and re-training costs ... these are among the traits that have defined the industry.

Until now.

As the largest casual dining restaurant (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc.) company in the world, "We were constantly having to make our banking information - which comes from 1,300 different individual restaurants, each with its own bank account - fit into the limits of software," say Jennifer Imran, Bank Information Specialist for Darden Restaurants, Inc. When we first looked at SmartAnalysis(TM), we were instantly struck by its top-to-bottom flexibility - from how you navigate to how you name your accounts so that you can easily find and refer back to them. It was clearly designed with the end user in mind."

Peter Vogelberger, president of Chesapeake System Solutions, Inc.(R) is gratified with that type of feedback. "One of the things we saw as we began to design our products was that most of the competition was focused on nothing but the nuts and bolts. There didn't seem to be any consideration of the human factor. In contrast, we like to begin with the human factor - ask ourselves what real-world needs is this software going to need to meet - and build our functionality to meet those needs."

Functionality was one of the strong selling points for Darden, which installed the software about 18 months ago. "Of course we like the fact that the interface is very intuitive and user-friendly," Imran says. "It looks a lot like other Windows programs, which makes it easy to navigate. But beyond that, there are just so many seemingly simple things that make a huge difference. Like the fact that we can export information directly into our general ledger - that in and of itself is an enormous time-saver compared to manual entry. And even when you have the best people in the world, re-entering data from one place to another is a sure-fire recipe for errors."

She said another big factor in Chesapeake's favor was the company's customer service. "We had a dedicated person to help us implement and she was wonderful," Imran said. Plus, she said, Chesapeake is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve their products. "They seem to always be there wanting feedback, which we're not always used to. We're part of making their product better." She added, "Being able to be a part of that is really nice."

But fundamentally, decisions to shift products ultimately must be based on value. Imran says SmartAnalysis met that test as well. SmartAnalysis is a sister product of Chesapeake's T-Recs Reconciliation system which we installed in 2001. "We saw the value in having both our reconciliation and account analysis software from one company that could integrate the two products," she said. "When we saw how easy this product was to use, and knew that we would have the support, we definitely knew we would get our money's worth out of it."

Darden Restaurants, Inc. is the largest casual dining restaurant company in the world. It operates more than 1,300 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones BBQ, and Seasons 52 restaurants in North America, leading each of its market segments and employing more than 140,000 people. (All of the restaurants are company-owned. The company offers no franchise opportunities domestically.)

Chesapeake System Solutions, Inc. offers the total end-to-end treasury solution, seamlessly integrating cash management with reconciliation, account analysis and compliance. Chesapeake shares information across all applications, allowing customers to better manage treasury operations. Chesapeake's success evolves from its powerful combination of customer and industry-driven software, personalized customer support and advanced technology. Chesapeake's single-vendor product and support solution includes SmartTreasury(TM), a modular desktop and web-based treasury workstation, Total Reconciliation Solution (T-Recs(R)), a comprehensive reconciliation and deposit verification system, Unclaimed Property Compliance System (UPCS(TM)), which automates unclaimed property reporting for all 54 jurisdictions and SmartAnalysis(TM), which helps you quickly confirm your bank is fulfilling its promises by analyzing trends and comparing services across your banks. Please visit www.chessys.com for more information.