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Two Distributors Latest to Reap Rewards of Windows and SQL Server Solution

YARDLEY, PA, January 30, 2002 - On the surface, Arbill Glove and Safety and General Pool and Spa Supply might not seem to have much in common. Located in Philadelphia, PA, Arbill is one of the country's top distributors of safety products and services. General Pool, with six locations in central California, provides swimming pool and spa parts to area contractors and retail businesses. Yet when these two companies embarked upon a search for a new software solution to run their businesses, they both chose Prophet 21 CommerceCenter.

Prophet 21 provides distributors with technology solutions that help them increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs. Using a Microsoft Windows platform backed by a SQL Server database, CommerceCenter's features include order and inventory management, purchasing, pricing, financial management, customer relationship management, business reporting and analysis, e-business, and warehouse automation. The familiarity of CommerceCenter's Windows-base makes it easy to navigate and streamlines the training process.

Arbill's Search

"We started our search with a 108-page request for proposals (RFP)," recalled Joseph Murphy, Arbill's CIO. "It presented everything we wanted in excruciating detail."

Arbill has a three-pronged information technology (IT) infrastructure - a Web site, SalesLogix, and an enterprise software solution. They wanted a solution with a true SQL Server database and Prophet 21 was the only technology provider they looked at that offered it. What impressed Murphy and the rest of Arbill's staff was that CommerceCenter was written from the ground-up, instead of putting a new face on an existing UNIX-based system.

Because of their extensive RFP, it took Arbill a full year to make a decision. In addition to inviting vendors to make presentations at their offices, members of the staff went for site visits to see how other distributors used solutions. "We looked at several options and the other solution providers eliminated themselves pretty quickly," said Murphy. "We were very demanding.

"Prophet 21 was far and away the best fit," he continued. "From a business standpoint, right out of the box CommerceCenter handled about 90 percent of our RFP, including our inventory management, accounting, order fulfillment, purchasing, and other business needs."

In addition to CommerceCenter's functionality, Murphy was impressed with Prophet 21 itself. "There is absolutely no question that Prophet 21 is a well-run company," said Murphy. "We're a mission-critical business and if our systems are down for one day, that's a huge loss. But Prophet 21 offers extensive support."

General Pool's Search

General Pool started searching for a new solution after investing in an accounting package that couldn't meet their needs. "Everything else we owned was on Microsoft, including our Web page," recalled Philip Gelhaus, president of General Pool. "All of our contacts were on Outlook. The only thing that didn't run on Windows was our accounting package."

Gelhaus and his team knew that they needed a solution that was SQL-based. A SQL Server database provides outstanding performance, scalability, and integration with popular Windows programs such as Excel, Word, and Outlook. Like Arbill, they created an extensive RFP to guide their search for a new enterprise software solution, which they called Project GUSS: General's Ultimate Software Solution.

Fortunately, they found Prophet 21 CommerceCenter and its SQL-database.

Gelhaus appreciates that Prophet 21 supplemented CommerceCenter with several of its technology partners to provide a comprehensive solution, including integrating General Pool's Web efforts, tying Web-based order entry directly to the backend of the solution. "If I can service my customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without talking to a salesman, I'll cut my transaction costs immensely," Gelhau said. "The highest-priced people are sales people. And, my sales people will become sales people again, instead of just order takers who are too busy taking orders over the phone and entering them to the system to do anything else.

"In addition, with CommerceCenter, we'll cut paper, we'll increase fulfillment, and we'll reduce operating expenses and transaction costs - whether it's with the vendor or our customer," concludes Gelhaus with satisfaction.

Press Contact Kimberly Meiser Activant Solutions, Inc. 215-493-8900, ext. 3170 kim.meiser@activant.com

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