IRVINE, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Epicor Software Corporation , a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of the Global 1000, today announced new functionality that provides support for recommended industry best practices. The new features -- packaged front office integration, extended business intelligence tools and reporting, and extended supply chain tools -- are available immediately in the latest release of Epicor iScala Hospitality.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040615/LATU008LOGO) Packaged POS/PMS Integration

Epicor iScala Hospitality now includes integration templates to MICROS-Fidelio, one of the primary providers of point-of-service (POS) and property management systems (PMS) to the hospitality industry, as well as to other leading front office providers. This new industry-leading feature enables hotels and restaurant companies around the world to quickly benefit from a seamless integration across their front office systems and the Epicor iScala Hospitality back office solution. Leveraging Epicor Service Connect, the XML business integration platform that functions as a central integration point for secure workflow orchestrations within Epicor applications as well as for external connectivity to Epicor and non-Epicor applications, Epicor iScala Hospitality uses XML Web services to integrate seamlessly with MICROS-Fidelio and other POS/PMS vendors. The flow of information can be done via legacy technologies including flat files and CSV (comma separated value) files, or through Web services and XML.

Epicor Service Connect enables hospitality companies to create a fully automated process to import all information from the front office POS/PMS systems into the Epicor modules, either as a scheduled activity or in real time. In addition, Epicor Service Connect enables exception processing, automated workflows, improved governance/auditability, and minimized human intervention to quickly integrate property-level information into the back office. Major international hotel chains, currently piloting the new functionality, estimate the new integration capabilities between on-premise solutions and the Epicor system to have the potential to save half a day's time of one resource per day for each of their many locations around the world.

Standard Reports and Essential Business Intelligence

Epicor iScala Hospitality also includes a hospitality reporting tool (HRT) that provides essential hospitality reports such as daily revenue reports and others currently utilized by hotels around the world. The new release also integrates Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services technologies to provide hospitality-specific Business Intelligence (BI) Cubes with financial, requisitioning, purchasing, and inventory data. The BI solution can deliver information to a desktop or publish to a Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2007 portal using standard Epicor BI Web parts.

"Epicor continues to work with Microsoft to develop technologies that help hospitality organizations streamline business processes," said Matthew Shigenobu Muta, industry director for Microsoft's Worldwide Hospitality Group. "By utilizing Microsoft SharePoint Server, Epicor technology empowers information workers with business intelligence right on their desktops that helps them turn insight into action -- and ultimately drive business success."

The recent release, available immediately worldwide, also includes extensive localization for Brazil, India and other countries with high-growth in the hospitality industry, providing an opportunity for Epicor to reach new markets with its hospitality solution. In addition, enhancements for managing the supply chain including support of Bill of Materials in supply requisitioning and new bar-coding capabilities.

Collaboration with HTNG Drives Development; Industry Best Practices

As a leader and innovator in the hospitality industry, Epicor is working with Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a trade association that facilitates the development of next generation, customer-centric technologies to better meet the needs of the global hotel community, as well as hoteliers and other solution providers to establish industry standards for front office to back office integration. "Epicor has been involved from the outset in our efforts to define protocols and benchmarks for integration of on-premise systems with the back office," said Douglas C. Rice, executive vice president and CEO of Hotel Technology Next Generation.

The packaged POS and PMS integration and enhanced business intelligence and reporting capabilities developed by Epicor provide a straightforward means for today's hospitality organizations to collect, analyze and leverage timely data.

"Hospitality executives and operators rely on the data collected on premise to make business decisions, making it essential that POS and PMS data is collected in a timely and accurate manner," said Nader Nemati, global director of Epicor's Retail and Hospitality Practice. "With the delivery of our packaged POS/PMS integration, Service Connect, enhanced business intelligence tools and expanded localizations, Epicor iScala Hospitality helps hospitality organizations around the world operate with optimal efficiency and achieve maximum profitability."

About Epicor Software Corporation

Epicor, named one of FORTUNE magazine's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2006, is a is a global leader dedicated to providing enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and professional services automation (PSA) software solutions to midmarket companies and divisions of the Global 1000. Founded in 1984, Epicor serves over 20,000 customers in more than 140 countries, providing solutions in over 30 languages. Employing innovative service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services technology, Epicor delivers end-to-end, industry-specific solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services that enable companies to drive increased efficiency, improve performance and build competitive advantage. Epicor solutions provide the scalability and flexibility to meet today's business challenges, while empowering enterprises for even greater success tomorrow. Epicor offers a comprehensive range of services with its solutions, providing a single point of accountability to promote rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership. Epicor's worldwide headquarters are located in Irvine, California with offices and affiliates around the world. For more information, visit http://www.epicor.com/.

Epicor is a registered trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. Scala and iScala are registered trademarks of Scala Business Solutions NV, an Epicor subsidiary. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.

CONTACT: Erin Stone of Epicor Software Corporation, +1-949-585-4473,
estone@epicor.com

Web site: http://www.epicor.com/