Cincinnati, Oh . — November 12, 2001 — Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions today announced the availability of a financial and business management solution for small businesses. Microsoft® Great Plains® Small Business Manager addresses the accounting and payroll needs of small businesses, defined as those businesses with fewer than 25 employees and less than $5 million (U.S.) in revenue. Small Business Manager is integrated with the Microsoft bCentral™ small-business service, allowing customers to manage their accounting needs through an on-site solution while utilizing services that help them enable e-business, market their business online and manage customer relationships.

This integration with bCentral allows Small Business Manager to deliver the benefits of the leading Internet resource for Web-based business tools and applications combined with the benefits of an in-house accounting and financial solution. Through this combination, Small Business Manager customers have the advantage of an easy-to-use suite of services designed to help them better manage their business processes. bCentral services that integrate with Small Business Manager in this release include the following:

• Commerce Manager is designed for businesses that want to extend their sales operations via the Web. It includes the ability to publish an online catalog of products, access to promote catalogs via online marketplaces and control-order management.
• List Builder allows customers to build and execute an effective e-mail marketing strategy.
• Appointment Manager allows businesses to better manage internal sales and resources, improve customer service and increase sales through online appointment and service scheduling, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The combination of Small Business Manager with bCentral services automates interconnected business processes, allowing small-business owners in the retail and services industries to reach out to their customers, suppliers and employees.

“We love the integration and the flexibility Small Business Manager brings and are excited to be standardizing on it and rolling it out to our thousands of customers,” said Robert Larson-Hughes, national managing director of e-business services at RSM McGladrey Inc. “Small Business Manager is a solution that empowers customers and encourages collaboration. It has many features of a full-fledged business software yet is still simple to use and very affordable.”

Small Business Manager is an affordable, interconnected solution containing accounting and business management tasks that allow customers to effectively and efficiently input, organize and access the information needed to drive their businesses. Small Business Manager includes easy-to-use and integrated financial, banking, sales and purchasing tasks. Payroll tasks including U.S. payroll and direct deposit also are available. These tasks, coupled with quick reporting and online views of key business information, make it possible for users to make smart business decisions faster and more efficiently. Small Business Manager will allow customers to take advantage of the latest features in Office XP such as those enabling collaboration with other employees, the sharing of key business information with their organization and the completion of analysis tasks.

Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Great Plains Small Business Manager is available immediately in North America from authorized Microsoft Great Plains resellers. Pricing for the Small Business Manager financial suite begins at $1,500 (U.S.).