Education Consulting Organization Adds Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics...

Education Consulting Organization Adds Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft
Dynamics GP to Multiply Its Capabilities
Pacific Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools choose Microsoft
technology to improve data accuracy and expand marketing opportunities.

REDMOND, Wash., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today
announced that Pacific Northwest Publishing and its affiliate company, Safe &
Civil Schools, both of Eugene, Ore., have chosen Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 to integrate their accounting, scheduling,
customer service and marketing capabilities. The Microsoft Dynamics solutions
will replace the organizations' Intuit QuickBooks software and a paper-based
system that had been augmented by electronic spreadsheets. Safe & Civil
Schools provides behavior-management training to improve school safety and
climate in school districts nationwide; Pacific Northwest Publishing publishes
books and other materials used in the program and sold separately.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides powerful, role-based customer relationship
management capabilities through models that can be deployed online or on
premises, or be partner-hosted. The companies will use it to expand their
marketing efforts and to automate their previous paper-based systems for
tracking projects with school districts. Microsoft Dynamics GP is a complete
and scalable business management solution that helps growing and midsize
organizations get up and running quickly, with such features as business
intelligence, reporting, budgeting and forecasting. This solution will
integrate the companies' accounting functions and replace the QuickBooks
Enterprise Solutions software.
Pacific Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools are working closely
with two Microsoft Gold Certified Partners: Gateway Solutions Inc., of
Portland, Ore., will implement the Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution, and Borek
Business Solutions of Eugene will implement Microsoft Dynamics GP. These new
systems will be integrated with each other and with the organization's current
Microsoft Office suite.
The organizations work with school districts throughout the United States,
including six of the 20 largest districts; much of the scheduling of training
and consulting sessions has been handled by one person with her own
paper-based file system and intricate electronic spreadsheets. Pacific
Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools were looking for a way to
automate these processes in order to ensure they would continue to meet
customer needs promptly.
Pacific Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools selected Microsoft
Dynamics technology after evaluating several other solutions, including
NetSuite, Intacct and ACT! by Sage.
"We chose Microsoft Dynamics because it offered the best technology for
our project scheduling and enabled integration between our two companies,"
said Matt Sprick, chief operating officer of Pacific Northwest Publishing. "We
were very impressed by how Microsoft Dynamics is able to adapt to our way of
doing business."
The organizations expect that their Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft
Dynamics GP technology will produce a number of key benefits to support their
operations, including the following:
-- Company growth. "We're looking to allow growth without breaking our
system," Sprick explained. The previous system was unable to bring
together the large amounts of data needed for the companies to expand.
The Microsoft technology integrates that data, making it available in
a powerful fashion.

-- Improved data accuracy. With their previous system, Pacific Northwest
Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools needed to enter the same
information four or five times to record schedules, expenses, bills
and invoices. Now data can be entered just once, reducing the chances
of input error, and it becomes available for all accounting and
operational functions.

-- Better tracking of time and expenses. Pacific Northwest Publishing
will be able to track its inventory more easily and thoroughly than it
could before, and to manage projects better by tracking the time and
expenses involved in getting its books to market. Safe & Civil Schools
will be able to do a better job of tracking expenses related to each
consulting job.

-- Improved revenue. Microsoft Dynamics CRM will allow the organizations
to organize marketing campaigns that are more focused than before. The
solution will allow the publishing company to directly market books to
individuals who have attended training; in turn, it enables the
training company to offer sessions only to those who have bought its
books. Workflows will be built to take advantage of these
opportunities. The technology also will support the organization in
tracking products and services customers have used so that it can show
customers logical services that complement and expand the improvement
they have begun.

-- Improved business intelligence. For the first time, the organizations
will be able to see the true profitability of long-term projects by
aligning costs with revenue. Safe & Civil Schools also anticipates
that Microsoft Dynamics GP will allow it to prepare better projections
of the ultimate profit on a project at various stages of its
completion. Also, Pacific Northwest Publishing will be able to
initiate inventory reporting for its books, improving its ability to
manage costs and delivery.

-- Better project scheduling and planning. As the corps of consultants
expands, Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide a complete -- and
previously unattainable -- view of any number of consultants. With
this view, planners can determine who is available for engagements.
The new technology also will provide information on which consultants
are associated with each school project and the stage of each project.
Moreover, these new capabilities can be implemented promptly and
cost-effectively because only minimal training is required, because
Microsoft Dynamics CRM employs the familiar Microsoft Office Outlook
interface.

-- Better financial insight. The accounting department will be able to
keep separate income statements and balance sheets for each of the two
companies but also consolidate them in reports. Since most customers
work with both companies, and the organizations will be able to track
revenues and expenses by customer, the integrated data will provide a
more holistic view of the organization's customer relationships,
profitability and potential than its previous methodologies could.

-- Supply-chain management benefits. Most publication projects need to be
sent out for bidding individually, because paper prices fluctuate.
With the integration of all bidding and contract data in Microsoft
Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP, Pacific Northwest Publishing
can track the vendors for each of its products and determine which
printers have the right equipment to run specific jobs, as well as
maintain a history of where various jobs have been printed in the
past.

"These two Microsoft Dynamics solutions provide us with a strong and
comprehensive foundation for continued growth," Sprick said. "They will scale
with our business as we expand our market."
"Corporations with multiple companies, business units or locations find
exceptional value in Microsoft Dynamics solutions," said Michael Park,
corporate vice president for the Microsoft Dynamics business in the U.S. for
Microsoft. "By integrating data within and across the organization, Microsoft
Dynamics technologies provide greater visibility and business intelligence for
superior planning and business management."
About Safe & Civil Schools and Pacific Northwest Publishing
Based on Dr. Randy Sprick's 30+ years in education and behavior
management, Safe & Civil Schools offers a full range of consulting, training,
workshop, and coaching services designed to assist all school personnel in
implementing research-based strategies to structure all school settings for
success.
In the effort to improve school climate and culture, Pacific Northwest
Publishing is dedicated to producing practical, high-quality, research-based
books and programs to help educators create positive, productive environments
where children feel emotionally and physically safe, and as such, actively
engaged in the learning process.
About Gateway Solutions
Gateway Solutions combines 11 years of experience in implementing
technology for salesforce automation to help your CRM system work for you, not
the other way around. Our goal is to go beyond simple customer satisfaction.
We strive for satisfied customers with whom we can develop long-term
partnerships. In turn we enable our clients to secure customers for life.
About Borek Business Solutions
Borek Business Solutions delivers comprehensive business technology and
related services to provide businesses with easy access to critical
information, connect operations across their organization and help staff
perform key tasks more efficiently. Borek's premier business product is
Microsoft Dynamics GP, which automates and streamlines financial and supply
chain processes. Borek helps clients save time and money while improving their
ability to compete.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and
supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more effectively.
Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized
services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like
and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire
business.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

pr.mspx./ /CONTACT: Liz Pandzich of Airfoil Public Relations, +1-248-304-1444,
Pandzich@airfoilpr.com, for Microsoft Corp.