SAP Joins Global Initiative to Launch XBRL Specification To Bring Financial Reporting Collaboration to Users of mySAP.com.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

WALLDORF, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2000

New XML-Based Standard Will Enable Users of mySAP.com

To Collaborate Easily With Stakeholders Around the World

SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the leading provider of inter-enterprise software solutions, announced today that through its membership on the international XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) Project Committee, it is helping to develop and launch XBRL and will be adopting this standard within SAP(TM) Strategic Enterprise Management(TM) (SAP SEM(TM)) with mySAP.com(TM).

This will allow customers to exchange financial statements data based on XBRL standards seamlessly and at Internet speed within their organization and with stakeholders such as investors, financial analysts, business partners, data aggregators, accounting professionals and public authorities.

XBRL, formerly code-named XFRML, is a free, new XML-based specification that uses accepted financial reporting standards and practices for exchanging financial reports across all software and technologies, including the Internet. Members of the XBRL Project Committee represent financial, accounting, software and governmental communities from around the world. XBRL for financial statements, developed by the committee as the first product in a future family of XBRL-based products, is currently under review for comments by the accounting profession and is anticipated to reach the market in July 2000.

"SAP, the major contributor to the financial information supply chain, supports the global adoption of XBRL because it greatly benefits all users of financial information," said Werner Sinzig, program director of SEM Product Development at SAP AG. "We're committed to guiding this effort and will make XBRL part of our solutions. SAP SEM will include ready-to-use XBRL templates for reporting, financial consolidation, modeling, simulation, and planning and budgeting."

XBRL offers several key benefits: technology independence, full interoperability, efficient preparation of financial statements, and extraction of reliable financial information. Once information is entered, it can be rendered in any form -- a printed financial statement, an HTML document for a company's Web site, an EDGAR filing document with the SEC, a raw XML file, or other specialized reporting formats such as credit reports or loan documents.

More than 80 percent of major U.S. public companies provide some type of financial disclosure on the Internet. XBRL leverages the efficiencies of the Internet as today's primary source of financial information by making Web-browser searches more accurate and relevant for users.

"XBRL allows companies, analysts, investors and other audiences to make better-informed financial and management decisions and to leverage the capabilities of the Internet to facilitate the exchange of financial information," said Barry Melancon, president and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "XBRL does not change existing accounting standards, it merely provides an efficient and reliable means for the exchange. Based on standardized, underlying data tags, XBRL does not require companies to disclose any additional information beyond that which they normally disclose in their current financial statements."

SAP AG joins over 30 other companies and organizations on the XBRL Project Committee. More information about XBRL can be found at http://www.xbrl.org.

XBRL Standards in SAP SEM With mySAP.com

The XBRL standard will be incorporated into SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SAP SEM), an element of mySAP.com that provides fully Web-enabled comprehensive analytical software.

Users of SAP SEM will be able to collect financial statements data from various internal and external sources -- ERP systems, Microsoft Excel, Web portals and information providers -- and convert it into an XBRL format. They will be able to consolidate actual financial data as well as financial estimates and planning data from business units, subsidiaries, profit centers and business partners; collect financial benchmarking information, analyst ratings and estimations; and execute business planning and simulation scenarios based on the XBRL format. Users will benefit from XBRL format templates for reporting financial statements data to internal and external users such as business partners, financial analysts, investors, stock exchanges, tax authorities and government or nongovernment organizations -- either through a Web-based interactive enterprise portal or through seamless data exchange via the Internet or any other data-exchange protocol.

About SAP SEM With mySAP.com

SAP Strategic Enterprise Management with mySAP.com enables customers to implement and operate management processes across their business and helps executives analyze, simulate, communicate, monitor and execute strategies successfully. Using value-based methodologies and balanced scorecard techniques, SAP SEM with mySAP.com incorporates the requirements of all stakeholders into the decision-making process. The solution enables executives to communicate more effectively with stakeholders, assess their business strategies through scenario and activity-based planning, link strategies with operative target setting and resource allocation, and monitor results through the Management Cockpit solution and balanced scorecard indicators, thereby closing the loop and enabling strategic organizational learning and continuous adaptation of strategy.

SAP SEM supports Strategic Enterprise Management best practice through five integrated applications based on SAP Business Information Warehouse: Business Planning and Simulation (SEM-BPS), Business Consolidation (SEM-BCS), Business Information Collection (SEM-BIC), Corporate Performance Monitor (SEM-CPM) and Stakeholder Relationship Management (SEM-SRM). More information about SAP SEM is available at http://www.sap.com/sem.

About SAP

As the market leader of inter-enterprise software solutions, SAP is leveraging its strength in industry-focused business software and the world's largest enterprise software customer base to deliver mySAP.com. mySAP.com provides an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions on demand. This enables companies of all sizes and industries to fully engage their employees, customers and partners to capitalize upon the new Internet economy. mySAP.com allows people to harness the power of the Internet to work smarter, better and faster by optimizing supply chains, managing strategic relationships, reducing time to market, sharing virtual information, and increasing productivity and shareholder value. SAP is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." The SAP World Wide Web site can be found at http://www.sap.com.

Copyright (c) 2000 SAP AG

SAP, SAP Strategic Enterprise Management, SAP SEM and mySAP.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries.

Other product or service names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.