Two new products are on the way from Microsoft Business Solutions,
Microsoft's development unit for software aimed at small and medium
sized businesses.
Microsoft Business Solutions Professional Services Automation (PSA)
is targeted at project administrators. Using technology from Great
Plains' Solomon line and the enterprise version of Microsoft
Project 2002, the software includes tools for team collaboration
and recording and tracking various aspects of ongoing projects,
including budgets, billing, materials and payroll.
The application is intended to offer users centralised resource
management and greater budget control, and is designed for users in
a variety of industries with needs as diverse as those of
professional services firms and construction companies, according
to Microsoft. Microsoft Business Solutions PSA is scheduled for
availability in the fourth quarter in North America. Pricing has
not yet been announced.
Also announced this week and now available worldwide is the
Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS), built on the QuickSell
product line Microsoft acquired in May by purchasing developer
Sales Management Systems. The RMS handles point-of-sale operations
such as price lookups, inventory checks and payment processing,
along with back-office functions such as inventory creation and
replenishment calculations and management of customer accounts and
employee information.
Available in several languages, the RMS comes in two versions, one
for managing single-store operations and one for multi-store
retailers. Pricing starts at $1,290 (£832).
Microsoft Business Solutions was formed through the combination of
two businesses acquired by Microsoft, Great Plains Software and
Navision Software with Microsoft's own bCentral information portal.
The two products announced this week have similarly composite
origins.
The new products were unveiled at Microsoft Business Solutions'
Stampede 2002 conference in Minnesota, USA.